Squad for Dijon tomorrow (injuries to key players adding up): http://www.psg.fr/en/News/003001/Article/78940/Le-groupe-parisien AREOLA Alphonse AURIER Serge BEN ARFA Hatem CAVANI Edinson DESCAMPS Rémy DRAXLER Julian GUEDES Gonçalo KIMPEMBE Presnel KURZAWA Layvin LO CELSO Giovani LUCAS MARQUINHOS MATUIDI Blaise MAXWELL NKUNKU Christopher RABIOT Adrien THIAGO MOTTA THIAGO SILVA Missing: AUGUSTIN Jean-Kévin (reserves) CALLEGARI Lorenzo (reserves) DI MARIA Angel (treatment) GEORGEN Alec (reserves) KRYCHOWIAK Grzegorz (reserves) MEUNIER Thomas (treatment) PASTORE Javier (treatment) TRAPP Kevin (treatment) VERRATTI Marco (treatment)
I can understand some bubble-wrap on some of the fine china 10 days before Barca drops by. Put another way an abundance of caution may be warranted for even minor injuries with respect to the schedule -- the listed squad should be able to muster a win against Dijon. ;>)
Shaky for a while there but they got the 3 points going away, too bad that only is good for second in the league.
At least they are also 'doubled-up' in the UCL with a tough pair of matches coming up as well, maybe not as tough as Barca but you could probably find someone that would say tougher (at present form for opponents.
Man City has looked pretty underwhelming until Gabriel Jesus entered the fray, but I guess the same can be said for Barce.
Domestic match at home w/ Lille, we really must collect all three points, the squad: http://www.psg.fr/en/News/003001/Article/78993/Le-groupe-parisien Squad: AREOLA Alphonse AURIER Serge BEN ARFA Hatem CAVANI Edinson DESCAMPS Rémy DI MARIA Angel DRAXLER Julian GUEDES Gonçalo KIMPEMBE Presnel KURZAWA Layvin LUCAS MARQUINHOS MATUIDI Blaise MAXWELL NKUNKU Christopher RABIOT Adrien THIAGO MOTTA THIAGO SILVA Missing: AUGUSTIN Jean-Kévin (treatment) CALLEGARI Lorenzo (reserves) GEORGEN Alec (reserves) KRYCHOWIAK Grzegorz (training) LO CELSO Giovani (training) MEUNIER Thomas (training) PASTORE Javier (treatment) TRAPP Kevin (treatment) VERRATTI Marco (treatment) Delayed coverage on beIN due to La Liga's Copa del Rey match between Barca & Atletico Madrid -- just like a weekend.;>) Monaco on the road in Montpellier ... crossing fingers.
Sometimes I can but it didn't work out today (I was on the road out of town). I just finished watching on DVR and I wish I knew who our third goalkeeper was from watching him go 90 minutes today in what could have been a somewhat comfortable win. Instead of a controversial one. To my amateur level referee mind the AR must have thought the touch by the Lille GK was a 'play on the ball' which would reset or actually take away any offside call because it was not played to Lucas by a teammate. The thin area is that if it is off of a 'save' or 'deflection' by the GK and the attacking player has gained an advantage from an offside position it then is offside. I believe they did actually get it correct but it sure looked bad. Speaking of looking bad -- I guess if Barca were playing at about the same time today they didn't get to watch the match live but when they do M-S-N will be licking their lips about Areopengola. Hopefully Trapp has recovered enough that he could play but he is being held out as a precaution ...
No, I said I wished ... but now I know who I was wishing for. ;>) Areola played and made a really bad judgement error that cost a goal late when it was 1 - 0. That was why I coined "Areopengola" as a new and hopefully temporary nickname. He started the season well, struggled, lost his spot to Trapp, and since then has seemed to have lost his edge and maybe needs a sports psychologist?
Paris squad for Bordeaux clash http://www.psg.fr/en/News/003001/Article/79034/Le-groupe-parisien Things looking better w/ respect to injuries to key players -- no one important is allowed to get hurt in this one. Live coverage (!) on the regular beIN channel on a day and time when I might have been able to watch on beIN Connect ... Squad: AREOLA Alphonse AURIER Serge BEN ARFA Hatem CAVANI Edinson DI MARIA Angel DRAXLER Julian GUEDES Gonçalo KIMPEMBE Presnel KURZAWA Layvin LUCAS MARQUINHOS MATUIDI Blaise MAXWELL MEUNIER Thomas NKUNKU Christopher RABIOT Adrien THIAGO MOTTA THIAGO SILVA TRAPP Kevin VERRATTI Marco Missing: AUGUSTIN Jean-Kévin (reserves) CALLEGARI Lorenzo (reserves) DESCAMPS Rémy (reserves) GEORGEN Alec (reserves) KRYCHOWIAK Grzegorz (training) LO CELSO Giovani (training) PASTORE Javier (treatment)
As far as squad news ahead of Toulouse is concerned, Emery revealed 20 players have been called up for the match and that captain Thiago Silva and Angel Di Maria are both out with muscular injuries. Edinson Cavani, Marco Verratti and Thomas Meunier are all worries ahead of the game but did at least train on Saturday, while Javier Pastore is in the party. "We have called up 20 players," Emery stated. "Thiago and Angel will continue to work because they have muscular injuries. "Many changes against Toulouse? There are some doubts. Thomas, Marco and Edinson have trained today, so we will speak with the medical staff ahead of the match about them. "There will be some changes. We will be relying mainly on those who are ready to play. Javier is in the squad. He came on for 10 minutes on Tuesday. Perhaps he will be able to build on that here." It is not certain January signing Goncalo Guedes will be in the final squad, though, with Emery underlining the Portugal international's need to be patient. "What does Goncalo [Guedes] need to get his PSG career started? Patience," replied Emery. "He is a young player and has a lot of desire. I have asked him to be patient and little by little he will integrate into the team."
He's in last year's jersey in that image, last year he seemed to need 10 good chances to score one goal. This year he is doing much better on his conversion rate, and in fairness part of that is probably a result of being in his favored CF position now that Ibrahimovic is gone. His extremely nice and thinly sliced goal against Barca was incredible, and we'll never know but it likely would have just been a near miss at last year's form.
Is there any real icon, like in the past with Pauleta, Rai? Currently, this is still a mosaic of great individuals who have team character.
Beckham and Ronaldo (one w/ the teeth) ;>) have both recently visited but while they certainly are iconic footballers they may not be PSG icons. Ibrahimovic would probably get the most 'iconic' votes in the recent (Qatari $) era, but maybe Thiago Silva should get them as multi-year captain and world class player ... too many people just look at goals and assists though.