PSG Boss Enrique Defends Tactics Amid Newcastle Defeat Criticism

Luis Enrique has defended his tactics in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-1 Champions League defeat to Newcastle, with a 4-2-4 system attracting criticism.

PSG chose to hold back their desire when paid a midweek visit to England, even though they travelled to St James’ Park with a raucous home crowd eager to support the Magpies. Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani, Goncalo Ramos, and Kylian Mbappe were all starters for Luis Enrique’s attack-oriented lineup.

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PSG paid for their ambition by being exposed at the back, and Newcastle had a dream matchup with the Ligue 1 champions. Within 50 minutes, they had three goals, and at times, they had no trouble cutting open the visitors.

Despite this, when speaking with Canal+ about his strategies and the result, Enrique said: “I thought it was for the best, and I still do. Those are difficult games to live through for a manager. I sincerely think the result is a bit unfair, but not totally. Congratulations to Newcastle, they played very good football. They were effective in the last part of the pitch and we made some mistakes, it is hard to accept that. If you make mistakes you pay for that. Their press worked. We tried to put in front of their goal as many chances as possible but we weren’t so effective in the last part of the pitch. But the scoreline is excessive. The result is so big for them. But I think we didn’t deserve that result.”

Lucas Hernandez appeared to suggest afterwards that the wrong approach had been taken, saying it was “the manager’s choice” to field four forwards – while admitting that it “did not work”. Both PSG and Newcastle remain in the hunt for places in the last-16, with Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan the other sides in Group F.