This Wednesday evening, Paris Saint-Germain drew on the lawn of the Association Sportive de Saint-Etienne, 1-1 (find the summary here), on behalf of the 18th day of Ligue 1. PSG generally dominated the first half before clearly slowing down in the second half. The Parisians scared each other and clearly struggled physically, which is not surprising just three days after the resumption. So it’s a mixed start for Mauricio Pochettino even though we saw his playing intentions in the first act. At the microphone of Telefoot, Jessy Moulin, Saint-Etienne goalkeeper, congratulated himself on his match and that of his team for this resumption of the championship in 2021.
Mill “This is what we wanted and that is reassuring”
A good match against the Parisian?
It always feels good to come back and make some stops. There is disappointment tonight, we hit the post, we have chances but it’s a good point taken against Paris. It bodes well to start the year like this. This is what we wanted and it is reassuring.
Is that a very good point against PSG?
To continue not to lose, it does a lot of good for morale. We know what to put in the games and we have to continue wherever we go, wherever we are.
As we knew, the Parisians did not manage to maintain good intensity throughout the game. In the first half, the positioning of Marco Verratti, a 28-year-old midfielder, allowed the Paris side to play very high. Unfortunately, the Parisians took a goal on a defensive error. The Rouge et Bleu were able to come back quickly enough, thanks to Moïse Kean, a 20-year-old striker, again, who shows in every game that the club can count on him. But they also had too much technical waste and opportunities missed or stopped by a great Jessy Moulin this Wednesday evening.
The second half was not very well for the PSG players. The physical decline was to be feared and it happened. The Stéphanois could have won it without a bar that saved Keylor Navas. The Stéphanois, as Moulin points out, are leaving with more confidence, which shows that the Parisians were tough and that the ASSE players believed in it. From this match, we will not draw definitive conclusions, but we saw that Pochettino made changes to the hour of play including a change of system (passage from 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2) and that he will have had the opportunity to see his players evolve in competition. A point will be made internally on this match. In the end Paris, lets slip 2 points, this season definitely promises a hell of a suspense.
