Laurent Blanc aborde le marché et la situation de Tagliafico à l’OL

Laurent Blanc, coach of OL: “A departure of Tagliafico? Our conversation this morning had nothing to do with it. If losing him would be a big blow? Very big. Very big. But I didn’t even think about it for a single moment. You might be aware of more things than me… but we can also speak directly to the person.”

“There are still about fifteen days left. I have experienced pleasant transfer windows and I have experienced rather unpleasant transfer windows. You have a decision from the DNCG that allows you… to do nothing or almost nothing. A transfer window can be very good for a coach if it improves the team. But the transfer window should end on the first day of the championship.”

Laurent Blanc addressed the topic of extended added time in Ligue 1 during his press conference on Thursday. The Lyon coach did not seem to be a big fan and would not oppose a switch to effective playing time like in rugby.

“It can change something in managing the end of the match. But the question to be asked is, it’s a major issue at the football governing bodies, to see if we take effective playing time or the time over 90 minutes,” explained the coach of OL two days before the match against Montpellier. In my opinion, this raises questions at the highest level. Having discussed it with high-ranking people, I think it is evolving and making football played with effective playing time.”

And Laurent Blanc added: “I think playing with added time of 10, 11, 12 or 13 minutes is not the best thing. It changes the course of the match. If it’s 2 or 3 minutes, yes. And even then, things can happen. But 15 minutes is almost a third of a period, it’s too much… way too much… But everyone has their opinion. […] It can influence your substitutions and therefore your team’s tactics. It must be taken into consideration and I believe there will be an evolution in football in the coming years.”

As expected, added time doubled last weekend for the first matchday of the 2023-2024 Ligue 1 season compared to last season’s average.

Anything but a surprise considering the directives from FIFA to the referees over the past several months.

>> We explain everything here

Nordi Mukiele resumed collective training on Wednesday at the PSG Campus. Injured in April and operated on his hamstring, the 25-year-old right-back had been training separately from the group since the start of preseason.

Lee Kang-In and Warren Zaïre-Emery trained separately on Wednesday. Apparently, it is simply a precautionary measure, especially due to fatigue, particularly for “WZE”.

Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé participated in the session normally and will be part of the squad this weekend, barring any last-minute changes.

Fabrice Hawkin

Here are the nine fixtures for the weekend in Ligue 1:

• Metz-Marseille, Friday, August 18th at 9pm
• Lyon-Montpellier, Saturday, August 19th at 5pm
• Toulouse-Paris Saint Germain, Saturday, August 19th at 9pm
• Lille-Nantes, Sunday, August 20th at 1pm
• Le Havre-Brest, Sunday, August 20th at 3pm
• Lorient-Nice, Sunday, August 20th at 3pm
• Reims-Clermont, Sunday, August 20th at 3pm
• Monaco-Strasbourg, Sunday, August 20th at 5:05pm
• Lens-Rennes, Sunday, August 20th at 8:45pm

After an initial round of matches that brought surprises like OL’s defeat to Strasbourg or PSG’s draw against Lorient, the Ligue 1 season continues this weekend with the second matchday.

A few days after their cruel elimination from the Champions League, Marseille will kick off the weekend with an away match against Metz on Friday evening. Montpellier and Paris will try to kick-start their campaign on Saturday, respectively against Montpellier and Toulouse, while the clash between Lens and Rennes will be the highlight of Sunday evening. A great clash to look forward to at Bollaert.