With PSG struggles in recent matches, questions are to be asked about the mentality of its key players.
PSG have lost 4 out of their last 6 matches. Their only two wins came from bottom of the table teams. PSG are out of the Champions League after taking a 2-0 lead in the last 30 minutes of the match, until Karim Benzema scored a hattrick to take Real Madrid into the quarter finals of the UCL.
The PSG fans have had enough and are letting their players hear it. During the match against Bordeaux , the home crowd greeted Lionel Messi and Neymar with boos
What was a huge blockbuster signing for PSG, Messi has not produced the numbers PSG wanted. In 22 games with PSG, he has only scored 7 goals and 10 assists. Neymar has also struggled this season, only recording 5 goals and 6 assists in 20 games this season.
PSG’s only hero is French forward Kylian Mbappe, who is having a monster season. Mbappe has 25 goals and 10 assists in 33 games and was greeted with cheers by the home fans. The PSG fans are showing love for Mbappe as rumors say he will be signing for Real Madrid this summer.
The fallout of the UCL loss was of disorganization and lack of leadership in the team on the field. PSG lack true leadership, hence reasons why they have not won a Champions League yet in their club history.
After the game rumors spread that Neymar and goalie Gianluigi Donnarumma got into a heated argument in the locker room. They were each blaming each other for the loss and their teammates had to seperate them. With all the money spent, it seems the team cannot built the right chemistry to build a European winning team.
The team has spent roughly around 1.02 billion dollars in transfers in the past 10 years, however have failed to win the Champions League. PSG has made the UCL knockout round every year since 2013, making the final once but loss to Bayern Munich in 2020.
ESPN FC’s Julien Laurens believes there is a mental and psychological deficiency with PSG that prevents them to succeed.
“They have been here before, in Barcelona almost to the day five years ago, there were there in Parc de Princes with United, Chelsea did it too. I think the mindset in this football club is wrong, there is something wrong psychologically the way they approach games and the lack of reaction to it and I think they are all to blame, Poch [Mauricio Pochettino] the players, Donnarumma for the mistake” said Laurens.
Between Pochettino, Tuchel, Unai Emery, and Laurent Blanc, no manager has fix PSG’s mentality and chemistry in recent years. PSG’s only focus now is secure the Ligue One title, however lots are to be thought about the chemistry of the team, especially if Mbappe leaves for Madrid this summer.
