The message was clear: “I’m the coach, I’m responsible,” Unai Emery said after Paris Saint-Germain’s lacklustre 2-2 draw against Ludogorets in the Champions League. It was a result that ultimately condemned the French champions to a spring meeting with Barcelona in the last 16, but the Spaniard refused to hide.
He assumed his share of the responsibility in a pool campaign that was ultimately a failure by the high standards that PSG set themselves, despite having a superior head-to-head record against Arsenal, albeit only due to away goals.
After a heavy 3-0 defeat to Montpellier and that draw against the Bulgarian champions, there were rumours that Emery’s future hung in the balance of Sunday’s home meeting with Ligue 1 leaders Nice, a fixture that ended 2-2. That, however, is not the case: the Spaniard retains the full support of PSG’s management.
“We are still close to Nice in the league, qualified in the Champions League, even if we were second, and the cup competitions are coming up – why do we need to change?” That is the thinking of the powerbrokers at the Parc des Princes outfit.
The second half performance against Nice and the ability of the team to rally from 2-0 down – and a potential seven-point deficit to their opponents – proved to president Nasser Al-Khelaifi that Emery still holds sway in the locker room. Yes, he is under pressure to an extent due to results, but he still has time to work on the details that he believes will make all the difference in the future.
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The former Sevilla boss is very close to his players and regularly holds talks with the most experienced members of his squad, who provide him with feedback. This is in contrast to Laurent Blanc, who departed in the summer, having spent his time in the capital a good deal more distant from the squad.
And in turn, the players have been content to shoulder responsibility for this comparatively slow start to the season. “We are the ones who play, who have to do more. We have confidence in what we do and we have complete confidence in our coach,” Thiago Motta said.
In the short term, Emery’s future is not under question, but he is aware that better results are required after Christmas. In particular, it is the Champions League upon which he will be judged, and therefore Barcelona is a vital test.
Would defeat spell the end for the Spaniard in Paris? PSG are not ready to commit to such a hard-and-fast rule, aware of the quality that Barcelona boast, but they also believe that they are capable of knocking out the Camp Nou side.
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