Thomas Tuchel: ‘Our mentality has changed’
The Paris Saint-Germain manager spoke to the media this Saturday afternoon in the pre match press conference ahead of the big game on matchday 16 of Ligue 1 between Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon at the Parc des Princes.
ON THE PLAYERS’ FITNESS
“The squad should be the same as the game against Istanbul Basaksehir. We’ve still got a training session so we’re just hoping no one gets a last minute injury.”
ON THE TEAM SPIRIT
“We had to change our mentality and the way we were playing. The turning points of our season were the win against Leipzig and the draw against Bordeaux. Against Leipzig we were poor but we stuck together and got the victory. It was the opposite against Bordeaux, I showed the players what we needed to do and we also needed to work harder. Since then we’ve played three games in quick succession and our mentality was spot on.”
ON LYON
“They’re a tough team and play with a lot of aggression on the pitch, and the fact that they’re not in Europe this season is an advantage for them physically. We know that they’re fresh and you can see by the way they play, they’re one of the best teams in the league.”
ON THE GAME
“I think it’s good to play a team of this calibre after what we achieved in the Champions League, we’re playing a side good enough for that competition, and that keeps us motivated.”
ON THE TACTICS
“They play a 4-3-3 formation but played a 4-4-2 against Lille. I’m sure that they’ve analysed our games too, and they can surprise us tactically. We’re still thinking about how we’ll set up defensively. They’re a quality side going forward so we’ll need to defend as a team. We know how to defend from the front by keeping the ball and that’s a real strength of ours. Depay likes to find pockets of space, he’s really creative so we’ll have to prepare for the threat that Lyon will pose."