December 24-with the end of the World Cup, Ligue 1 will start the second stage of the season. In an interview with the club TV, Paris Saint-Germain coach Gharti talked about the team’s preparations and the challenges they will face.
About how you feel right now.
I feel very good! Obviously, during the interval caused by the World Cup, we were able to restore our bodies and recharge ourselves, but we remained focused because we focused on the grand World Cup. The tournament was a great success and I had the privilege of staying in Qatar for a few days and watching a lot of games. What I saw was a well-organized World Cup, which showed a high standard and brought us a lot of surprises.
An assessment of the team’s performance so far this season
In the first few months of the season, we made full use of the squad and made some adjustments to the tactical organization and we have been trying to improve ourselves. We can’t be perfect, but we want to make some plans for the second half of the season. We will maintain a humble attitude to make an assessment.
We did well in the first half of the season, especially in the league we had some good momentum. We have made progress through one game after another and the team has scored a lot of goals, but we still need to correct some small flaws. On the whole, I am satisfied with the evolution of the team, the players and the way they play.
Then there is the Champions League, where the group stage is completed in a very short time. For me, there are no major discoveries in this event, but the exposure in Paris Saint-Germain is different. We remained unbeaten in the group stage, played some interesting games and made continuous progress. Overall, we did well in terms of the way we played, goals and points.
About the expectation of the team’s performance in the second half of the season
We did a lot of work during the 20-day interval. It’s a new experience for everyone, even though I think we are one of the most representative clubs in the World Cup. The second phase of the season will begin soon and we will have two very important games against Strasbourg on December 28 and Lance on January 1 next year. We are preparing for these two games and although we are well prepared physically, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of ball control and technical organization.
I’m always looking for improvements, looking for other ways to organize games, which sometimes surprises our opponents and allows us to perform better in some games. You always need to look for ways to improve, but there will be no major change, because we have done very well in the last few months.
I have only one goal, and that is to keep myself happy. I spent a very happy six months in Paris Saint-Germain. I like this team, like these players, and I hope the second stage of the season will be as eager, determined and motivated as it was at the beginning of the season, but be happy at the same time.