In the wake of his team’s first defeat of the campaign in North London, Luis Enrique sought to deflect from individual performances, instead explaining that Paris Saint-Germain had been collectively outclassed by Arsenal on Tuesday night.
In particular, the Asturian was asked about Gianluigi Donnarumma’s showing, with the Italian having been partially at fault for both of the Gunners’ goals in the first half – although he did produce some vital stops after the break to keep PSG in the match.
Although he declined to discuss tactical detail in his immediate post-match interview, the manager nevertheless went on to highlight that his team had been beaten across the board by a well-organised Arsenal team. In his post-match press conference, the PSG manager lamented the physical dominance that Mikel Arteta’s men displayed throughout the encounter:
“I’m not going to single out one player after a defeat, if anything, I take the blame for it. Gigio was not at the required standard, but neither was the rest of the team.”
“Arsenal were better in terms of intensity and pressure, and they won every duel. They then sat back after the second goal and took fewer risks, but overall they deserved the win and we deserved the defeat.”
Luis Enrique again highlighted Arsenal’s ease in one-on-one battles in a later answer:
“It’s impossible to compete without winning our duels. It was their defenders who anticipated our attackers, and our attackers were unable to beat their defenders. We were far from being in the game from the very first minute.”
The Spaniard was nevertheless hesitant about drawing any overarching conclusions about his team’s style of play this early in the campaign:
“We’ll have to wait until the end of the season to do that. This was our first major game of the season, and there will be more to come, so we’ll have to see after those.”
With clashes against Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich to come in the next two months (and Manchester City in January), the Ligue 1 leaders will have more than their fair share of major tests on the European stage to atone for tonight’s misstep.
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin – reporting from Arsenal Stadium
