"He is the main responsible", harsh criticism on PSG star after defeat vs Newcastle

Paris Saint-Germain had their worst week since the start of the 2023/24 season. On Saturday they drew 0-0 against Clermont, the bottom of the Ligue 1 standings, and on Wednesday they suffered a heavy defeat in England 4-1 against Newcastle, for the second match of Champions League group F. The team's performance was far from the best since the start of the season.

The team's performance was far from expectations. Throughout the match they were dominated by The Magpies, who were tactically superior and managed to nullify the virtues of the Parisians. For this reason, most of the criticism in France went to coach Luis Enrique for his initial plan and his lack of reaction to what happened during the match.

The newspaper L'Equipe gave him a 3/10, arguing: "The audacity of going to play at St. James' Park with four attackers and two midfielders did not pay off. The most surprising thing is that he changed nothing in his plans despite his team's enormous difficulties in midfield." Le Parisien published a similar criticism: "Luis Enrique is the main responsible for this fiasco. PSG did nothing, achieved nothing and suffered throughout the match."

And Kylian Mbappé was also targeted for his poor performance. "Placed in the center even if he also moved to one side, his first half was very disappointing. Maybe because the balls weren't coming to him, he went looking for them too far back, a bit like a footballer he's not. Too little for him," wrote L'Equipe, who gave him the lowest rating of the team: 2/10.

What did the coach say?

Luis Enrique gave a press conference after the match and responded to the criticism: “Why this system? I'm the coach, I have to decide, big defeat? I don't know. Our objective is to reach the round of 16. It's a difficult group, we know that, but we're still second. The last matches will be fun. We have to manage them better. Is it difficult to coach PSG? What kind of question is that?”