For the first time since his arrival on the bench of the capital club, PSG remained silent. But this Saturday, October 8, after the draw (0-0) conceded on the lawn of Reims, it is especially on the nervousness displayed by his players that Christophe Galtier had to give explanations at a press conference.
Do you think the match tipped over Sergio Ramos’ red card?
CHRISTOPHER GALTIER. No. There was far too much nervousness on both sides, when the conditions were right for a good match. But I found both teams very nervous. For the opponent, it’s always an important match when you host PSG. The players were very nervous, there was a lot of talk, over-commitment. As a result, the match degenerated, it should have been better controlled by all the components of football. That was not the case. Red is certainly penalizing, but it is not what explains our bad first period. We let ourselves be locked in by the opponent, we continued to play short when we should have been looking for points of support and a long game. It all turned into frustration. Paradoxically, we were better in numerical inferiority, there was more fluidity in the game. In inferiority, the team had better control and more movement. But that did not prevent a stormy end to the game for everyone.
Do you find Sergio Ramos’ red logical?
He first takes a yellow card when I’m not even sure that it is he who is at fault… I experienced that a few years ago on a Nîmes – Lille. It’s a problem, not of culture, but of “football language”. “I am convinced that Sergio did not want to insult the referee but he used an expression (Editor’s note: “la puta madre”) that I hear hundreds of times on the pitch. When we are angry, we sometimes have words like these. But it is an expression. The referee lacked discernment, he took this word for himself when it was not addressed to him.
Is this nervousness an axis of progress that you will discuss with your players?
We must not overreact. I had already talked about it, I often talk about it, we will talk about it again. We can’t put ourselves in difficulty like that by losing players in a stupid way because of a lack of control when we have very high level players. Of course I will discuss it with them.
How did your experienced players fall into the trap of nervousness?
I can’t explain it, I’ve rarely seen Sergio react like that, overreact like that. But I’m not convinced that Sergio freaked out. He simply pulled out an expression that the referee took as an insult to him.
Have the changes made been able to destabilize the team?
No, it’s a matter of rhythm and benchmarks. Carlos Soler, for example, has played little with us, he has few benchmarks. He must discover Ligue 1 and the game with his partners. It also lacks rhythm. It was difficult for him when he is a very, very high level player. But others have experienced it before him. Inevitably when Lionel or Ney are absent, it changes the animation of the team and generates lack of benchmarks.
How do you judge the performance of Kylian Mbappé and Neymar?
Kylian was a bit orphaned by Leo and Ney, I suspected. But I thought as the game went on… Ney didn’t start because he’s been playing a lot lately. When Ney entered we saw the good relations between the two. This is also why the second period was better. Unfortunately on the face-to-face, they lacked finesse.
Are the two draws you have just had and the nervousness displayed a source of concern?
Worry, no, I’m awake all the time. Still in the sequences of matches at stake. I won’t go back to the Benfica match but on this one, there are a lot of things to change. But don’t feel worried, we just need to have better control and change some things to regain the constant control we had at the start of the season.