Pays de Cassel-PSG: “We will have a very competitive team”, promises Christophe Galtier

After driving through Qatar and Saudi Arabia for a week, PSG are back on track this Monday with the 16th Coupe de France final against the Pays de Cassel, Petit Poucet competition. Paris coach Christophe Galtier is promising to field a competitive team for the occasion to allow his players to find rhythm and automatism while his training sessions have been losing twice since the start of the season.

Have you been able to work well in recent days despite your trip to Saudi Arabia?

CHRISTOPHER GALTIE. We were able to work, the match in Riyadh was more than a training session, we played in a competitive environment with a very big atmosphere. The trip allowed us to talk to each other and everyone to focus on the game. Since the restart, we admitted two defeats, it’s very disappointing, we are not looking for excuses, but solutions. I spoke with many players so that everyone could return to the form that he had before the World Cup.

Can you see a tense PSG in the game and can the return of Nuno Mendez allow the team to regain that heat?

We know the importance of Nuno, he was away for a long time, we had to be very careful, it was a serious muscle injury. Juan was alone on duty. These are two completely different players because Nuno is a very vertical, very intense player. We are looking for the intensity and verticality that we have lost in recent weeks. We were forced to think about organization and animation. We have not been able to press in recent matches. We had discussions to determine the most suitable place to return the ball. We are at this job. We will work in this direction. We have profiles that can give us a lot of information about the offensive animation, but we need to be better at handling the loss of the ball and be more disciplined when the opponent taps the ball.

Are you going to replace Pablo Sarabia and are you looking forward to a new recruit by the end of the transfer window?

Pablo left for reasons known to us, the club is working on an additional attacking player. We are looking for a third party player. I have seen information about Skrinjar, but will he come this summer? I can not tell you. Will he come this winter? I can not tell you. I have something to work on with my players, I want to focus on that. The sports management and the president are working on this aspect.

Is there a sense of urgency to find the real level of play and have Keylor Navas start on Monday?

Keillor will play on Monday. He will play many matches in the Coupe de France. Is there an emergency? Yes, when you are at PSG. He turns very quickly after us. We must make our game more dynamic, rhythmic and intense.

Can we expect Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe or Neymar to start on Monday?

On Monday, the best team will be formed, I want to find automatisms, intensity, it makes no sense, and it would be stupid to make a certain turn. We will have a very, very competitive team, close to the one that leveled off in the championship. Get the youth to play? There is a possibility of five changes, we will see the evolution of the account. A few days ago, I couldn’t say that we need to work together to put together a team of mostly young players.

Are you concerned about the health of Prenel Kimpembe and the behavior of your defense in general?

We hope that Kimpembe will appear in the next few weeks, he is expected to return to training, but we’ll see how he feels. This is a harmful absence for the group. We know his level of play, the leader of the defense, and also a southpaw. In the coming days, we will see if he can return. But we can’t be satisfied with what’s going on in defense. It can’t just be defenders.