MY ACCOUNT
Christophe Galtier admits Paris Saint-Germain are lacking balance and cannot rely on their superstar forwards to bail them out after scraping a 4-3 victory over Troyes.
The reigning Ligue 1 champions twice trailed to goals from Mama Balde, either side of Carlos Soler’s leveller, in Saturday’s clash at the Parc des Princes.
But Lionel Messi scored a superb equaliser and then played in Neymar to put PSG ahead for the first time, before Kylian Mbappe emphatically converted from the penalty spot.
There was still time for Ante Palaversa to pull one back, making Troyes the first side to score three or more goals at PSG in the league since Bordeaux in February 2020.
Rather than showing pride in PSG’s ability to fight back and move five points clear at the summit, Galtier criticised the defensive performance of his side.
“The team was very unbalanced from the start,” Galtier told Amazon Prime. “Some players had trouble finding their levels.
“We won very few balls high up the pitch and lost too many duels. On a defensive level, we made far too many mistakes and again conceded from a set-piece.
“This is something we have to spend time on to fix, something we have to make work. If we have to score four goals to win each time, it’s going to be complicated.
“We got ahead of ourselves because we succeeded on the offensive level, but we left ourselves completely open.”
PSG have scored 54 goals in 19 games in all competitions this season, a tally only Bayern Munich (69 in 20) can better among teams across Europe’s top five leagues.
However, having defeated Maccabi Haifa 7-2 in the Champions League in midweek, they have now conceded five goals in their past two matches.
Midfielder Marco Verratti accepts the Parisians have to tighten up at the back if they are to challenge for trophies on multiple fronts this season.
“We didn’t defend well today. We cannot concede three goals at home,” he said. “We have to find a better balance to our game.”
The past 25 goals netted by PSG in all competitions have been either scored or assisted by Messi, Neymar and Mbappe in a run stretching back to September 3.
Galtier fielded all three of his superstar trio for the full match against Troyes – a decision the Frenchman defended after his side’s 19th game without defeat since he took over.
“They had to stay on until the end if we were going to get the win,” he said. “If the score had been different, with the team a few goals ahead, we could have managed it more.
“Plus, we know Neymar will not play on Wednesday [against Juventus] because of suspension. We knew today we would have to keep our attacking power to score goals.”
