NEYMAR IS UNABLE to perform at his full capacity unless he has a “close bond” with his coach, according to Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel.
Brazil star Neymar has been blighted by injuries in both his two seasons at PSG but, when he has been fit, the 27-year-old has taken Ligue 1 by storm, scoring 34 goals in 37 matches.
Nevertheless, there remain reports Neymar has not entirely warmed to life in Paris and he is consistently linked with other clubs, particularly former club Barcelona and Real Madrid.
PSG are hopeful of keeping both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe next season and Tuchel knows he has to keep the Brazilian onside if he is to get the very best out of him.
“Neymar is an incredibly warm person who cannot perform without a close bond to the coach and his team-mates without feeling really happy,” Tuchel told Eurosport.
He has antennas for every discord in the changing room, for any kind of criticism — he takes everything to heart.
“They [Neymar and Mbappe] are similar and different. Their quality is beyond question.
“In addition, they have a huge self-confidence. You can feel that, you need that, too, in order to always be able to decide games.
“This should not be mixed up with arrogance. It needs to be like this if you want to be the best of the best and you want to prove this on the pitch every three days.”
Mbappe recently suggested he could leave PSG in the coming months and, although the club swiftly shot down such a scenario, Tuchel praised the World Cup winner for his singlemindedness and focus.
He added: “Kylian is extremely focused, confident and independent for his age – extremely. He even counts his training goals!
At some point he even presented himself a shirt with the inscription ’100 goals in training’. I then asked him: ‘Which goals do you even count? Even those on small goals?’ He answered: ‘No, only the big [goals], where a goalkeeper is in it.’
“He is a real number nine, because you want to have someone who completes the move and for whom this is important.
“A super nice guy, very confident — he knows what he needs and what he wants.”
Gavan Casey is joined by Murray Kinsella and Sean Farrell for a review of the 2018/19 season, and cast an eye forward to next year and the Rugby World Cup in Japan.:
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Soccer always attracts the best
@John O Reilly: Turkey are a cut above.
@John O Reilly: soccer is a game for all, the rich, the poor and everyone in between. It’s not elitist and is representative of society as a whole, as all sports should be. This incident is representative of our society not soccer fans in general.
@GrumpyAulFella: it’s called football,generally it’s country people & Gaa heads who call it soccer…..FIFA UEFA don’t have the name soccer attached to them
@Tony Doyle: it’s the English themselves who coined the term soccer. People can it whatever they want. Your “country people (whatever that means) and GAA heads” quip is quite nonsensical.
@Tony Doyle: Wrong. It’s not called football. It’s called association football which is where the word soccer comes from and both FIFA and uefa have the word association in their names. It’s not just country people and gaa heads, as you so unintelligently put it, that call it that. It’s called that in other countries as well like the USA and Australia to distinguish it from the likes of American football or Aussie Rules Football in the same way it’s used here to differentiate it from Gaelic football. If anything soccer is a more correct term than just football as it’s derived from the sport’s proper name
@Mark Jay: Correct. Specifically it was students in Oxford who used the terms soccer and rugger to differentiate between association and rugby football
Very unlike the Turkish fans.
Have no interest in any team who supports putin. Fans or club’s.
Disgusting.
It takes a special kind of person to stoop to a level that low. Soccer fans get their moment in the spotlight. Can’t really say it was only a small percent in this case
They are some soulless people in the world unfortunately and this is an example.
Jayyyysus
Strange war if football players don’t have to sign up. Just asking…
@John Smith: perhaps they’re the morale booster the troops need? Something to tune into outside of the war, just saying…
I don’t think there are very many critical thinkers among the readership here.
What would you expect from a pig but a grunt?!
Do you know why the war started?
Gh,
@David Hughes: Well said
@mcdb06: and thanks to you I will be forever in your debt
G
I guess we are all Fenerbache fans now
@JustBEERbarry: don’t you mean Dynamo??
Gh
meh… Kiev still won…. They (the chanting fans) were just showing themselves up as sore losers
Igno rant fules. Likely to be perceived as toxic. And rightly so.
Turkish fans chose right side. Any respect from tolerant Europe?