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Former France forward Nicolas Anelka has said that Mauricio Pochettino has an unenviable task of managing Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).
The Parisians were eliminated from the Coupe de France by OGC Nice earlier this week. The match ended goalless in regulation time before Nice won 5-6 on penalties. After the clash, there were calls for replacing Pochettino with Zinedine Zidane.
Speaking on RMC Sport's Rothen s'enflamme, Anelka provided his opinion on the same, saying:
“It’s not to defend the coach because it’s true that so far he hasn’t brought what he should bring, and there is no game plan, but in truth, he cannot. It’s very difficult (to coach this team). There are a lot of people who talk about the coach and the players, but in reality, when you are a coach in this team, it is very complicated to come up with a game project.”
Anelka added:
“He knows that his time is limited; he will last as long as possible, but he won’t be able to last. If he wants to develop his game plan, he has to make strong choices like putting stars on the bench, something he won’t do with management above him.”
PSG have struggled this season despite having a star-studded roster
Looking at the Ligue 1 table, it cannot be said that PSG are a struggling team. They are sitting atop with an 11-point lead over second-placed Nice.
However, they have visibly struggled on the pitch, often requiring moments of individual performances, mainly from Kylian Mbappe. He has made 35 goal contributions in 29 games across competitions, almost singlehandedly leading PSG's charge.
They finished second in their UEFA Champions League group, where they were quite unconvincing against Manchester City and RB Leipzig.
There seems to be no proper identity of how they want to play. They have superstars like Lionel Messi, Neymar, Marco Veratti, Mbappe and others. However, there seems to be no cohesion between the players, and the work rate has been abysmal from Messi and co.
They face Real Madrid in the Round of 16 in the Champions League this month. The entire squad and Pochettino will need to step up quickly if they are to progress in the competition.
