Before Sunday's game against Soyaux to open the season 2017/2018 of Paris Saint-Germain in D1, Patrice Lair was quite measured on the state of form of his team. The Parisian squad that "worked well" but "not necessarily ready" to attack the season on the best bases.


His main concern is the ability of his team to "play together", with "a lot of gaps" to correct for a Parisian training that is still according to him at the stage of "getting started". A judgment that he believes can change, especially depending on the attitude of his team Sunday against Soyaux, a first revealer for PSG, after preparation matches that have not always satisfied the Paris coach.


To prolong this impression of starting, Patrice Lair must for the moment spare Jennifer Hermoso, the Spanish attacker, victim of an elongation and who should not therefore start Sunday for the first game of the season. An absence that the Parisian coach brings closer to the situation of Laure Boulleau and Erika, both given long wounds and will still need time before returning to their best level.


"When you're in Paris, you have to aim for titles"


For Patrice Lair, the championship will be "very complicated" to fetch, facing a Lyon team that has "a very strong staff". The Paris coach has notably returned to the probable return of Amandine Henry to Lyon, a player who according to Patrice Lair was "the only player who missed [the OL] to have supremacy". Amandine Henry, one of eight players that Patrice Lair had targeted for the summer recruitment of PSG, and one of two players who will not eventually join the capital.


Two potential recruits missing, two "centerpieces" that will not finally join the capital. The second player, an attacker, could be Vivianne Miedema, who joined Arsenal this summer, and that Patrice Lair already wanted to recruit at the time when he was coach in Lyon. A difficulty in recruiting players from the "world top" that the Parisian coach relativizes with a strong desire to advance the young players of the club by giving them their chance. One of the aims of this initiative is to make them progress and to apply for a place in the French team like Eve Perisset and Grace Geyoro last season.


Patrice Lair who wishes that the Paris Saint-Germain participates to make win the team of France in 2019 and finally to win a trophy on the international scene after the disappointment of the Euro. A desire that involves giving playing time to players from the Parisian team but also to build a team whose heart is composed of hexagonal players who then feed the selection of Corinne Deacon.


A sincere commitment that also responds to the difficulty of aligning itself with the attractiveness of the Lyon project and the resources invested by OL to ensure the services of the best international players. A Lyon supremacy that the Parisian coach hopes to jostle in the league and the Coupe de France, which seems more accessible for him. A race in which he does not forget Montpellier, "a very good team" according to him and who will also be "very difficult to beat".



Photo: Team Pics / PSG