It seems hard to believe, but the story is over. Eighteen months after his arrival Paris Saint-Germain was a very ambitious manager, and 20 years after serving as club captain, Mauricio Pochettino’s second spell in Paris was over. An ESPN source revealed last week that he would be sacked just weeks after lifting the Ligue 1 trophy.
The “retrouvailles“(the reunion) never worked out and his tenure will forever carry a terrible feeling” of what could have happened. “Too many problems have turned a beautiful, romantic time into a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable marriage. Where will everyone involved go from here?
What happens? Away form, lack of power, stressful Messi
To be successful in Paris you have to be a good manager, which certainly applies to Pochettino, but you also have to be a communicator, which is not his forte. Your team must also play well. It’s not just about winning, it’s about winning with style, which was also not the case for him during his time at the Parc des Princes.
On top of all those concerns on the pitch, you also need to deftly deal with all the politics in the club, which is arguably where he’s failed the most.
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With the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as the owner, and Nasser al-Khelaifi, the club’s president in absentia, many decision-makers act as intervention forces. There are so many people to satisfy and so many expectations to meet. With that comes the natural pressure of such a big club, with the dressing room feeling like a slum at times.
Pochettino struggled in this environment, as did other PSG coaches (especially Unai Emery and Thomas Tuchel) before him. He also does not have a good relationship with the former sporting director Leonardo. Given their role at the club, their relationship needed to be solid, but Pochettino was chosen by the emir, not Leonardo, and the pair never really got along. At the heart of the matter, they are an Argentinian and a Brazilian who see football very differently.
One of the biggest reasons for that tension is that Pochettino never felt he had complete control over his dressing room. There was a time when he wanted to take strong action after a first-team player (who was the same in both incidents) failed to respect the rules. Both times, he was told to let it go. It’s hard to manage any team if you don’t have that right, even more so in this PSG dressing room.
However, Pochettino’s decline was also due to his poor performance on the pitch. PSG have won Ligue 1, but the numbers are not as convincing as they could have been: 86 points, scoring 90 goals and conceding 36. They scored 91 points in 2019, 93 points in 2018, 87 points when ranked second after Kylian Mbappe‘S AS Monaco in 2017, 96 in 2016, 83 in 2015 and 2013, and 89 in 2014. Over those many seasons, they scored more goals and conceded fewer.
They also rarely play attractive football with clear tactical direction, with a humiliating defeat at the Bernabeu before Real Madrid inside Champions League round of 16 (when they led 2-0 after 30 minutes and lost 3-2), and the complete passivity of the coach in the face of adversity that night greatly reduced Pochettino’s position in the Premier League. club. Disqualified from the Coupe de France, a competition that Paris had won the previous five years in a row, by Good At the Parc des Princes in the round of 16 the team was also poor, as was the previous defeat Lille in the Trophee des Champions, the French Super Cup.
There is also an extremely bad away record. PSG failed to win on the road against any of the top nine teams in Ligue 1 last season, losing to Monaco, Stade Rennais, Nantes and Beautiful to draw at Marseille, Lyon, Lens and Strasbourg. With a lineup full of superstars like Lionel MessiNeymar and Mbappe, it’s simply not good enough.
Who’s next for PSG: Galtier or Zidane?
After Mbappe storyends with France star signs a new contract, the drama surrounding who will be Pochettino’s successor will keep PSG fans and followers busy.
Currently, there are two candidates, Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Galtier. Zidane, who turns 50 on Thursday, is the absolute dream tenant for the emir of Qatar. The former France and Real Madrid star has marked all the targets and is the brightest candidate for the position. However, he has yet to agree to join the club. He has his eye on France’s job, which will likely be available in December after the World Cup, and he knows full well that the project in Paris is difficult, as managers are often frustrated.
It’s unlikely it will be him at the moment, but until he is definitively “no”, there is hope within the club that he will take on the role. After all, Zidane is Zidane: he has three consecutive Champions League titles (2016, 2017, 2018) and two La Liga titles (2017 and 2020) with Madrid, not to mention he boasts of his charisma and the ability to hold any toxins. Happy dressing room.
The other option is Galtier, 55, who won the French championship with Lille in 2021 and is very close to PSG’s new sporting director, Luis Campos. According to reports, he is also desperate for the job and has spoken to Campos about a takeover. He is one of the best French managers at the moment despite a somewhat disappointing season at Nice, finishing fifth on goal difference and falling from the Europa League to the Europa Conference League as a result.
The two clubs have yet to begin discussing a transfer, but Nice are said to have agreed to his departure and a deal that won’t take too long to negotiate. Of course, Galtier doesn’t possess the popularity or lineage of Zidane, but he is hard-working and focused, with excellent people-management skills, despite his play (with 4-4-2). “basic”) could be a problem for PSG fans.
Where does Pochettino go from here?
After the humiliation in France, Pochettino wants to return to England. He is currently in London, where his wife stayed during his stay in Paris. One of his sons, Sebastiano, is the fitness coach on his PSG team and will also be sacked, while the other, Maurizio, has recently been playing for Watford, but has been let go. debuted when the Hornets were relegated from the Premier League.
Ideal for the Pochettinos is Mauricio finding a Premier League club. He dreams of having a chance at Manchester Unitedbut they chose Ajaxinstead it was Erik ten Hag. It leaves a few other picks at the bottom of the table as all of the Big Six now have margin stability.
Will he accept a club less like a Leicester City or one Newcastle United Football Club if either job becomes available? It will depend on the offer and the project, but why not? He will wait for Antonio Conte to leave Tottenham Hotspur so he can try to make a sensational comeback? That is unlikely to happen at the moment.
What about the rest of Europe? Spain is a strong possibility, as his reputation is still high. In the past, he has met and talked many times with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. They know each other well, and for the post-Carlo Ancelotti era, Pochettino’s name is sure to be on the table if he’s still looking for work. The difficult time at PSG did not tarnish his image, but it did not raise the bar.
Pochettino is going to get some really good offers in the near term. Will they arrive at the earliest this summer? He will have to wait and see.
