‘By far, one of our WORST games’: PSG boss Thomas Tuchel issues damning assessment of lacklustre Manchester United defeat… but insists ‘good news’ is ‘it could not be worse’ as French champions face uphill battle in tricky Champions League group
- REPORT: Marcus Rashford is the hero AGAIN in Paris as United leave it late
- Thomas Tuchel was left to moan one of PSG’s ‘worst’ matches in his tenure
- The French champions struggled to find rhythm and were deservedly beaten
- In search of ‘good news’, Tuchel feels it cannot get any worse from here on out
Thomas Tuchel hit out at his Paris Saint-Germain players and described their performance in defeat to Manchester United as the ‘worst’ in his two years at the club.
Marcus Rashford struck late in Paris to seal an impressive victory for United against a PSG side that still looked to be suffering a hangover from losing last season’s final back in August.
Neymar and Kylian Mbappe fell short of expectations on the night and a losing start to Group H gives Tuchel’s side an uphill battle to progress in the Champions League.
Paris Saint-Germain’s performance was ‘one of the worst’ in his reign, said Thomas Tuchel
The German boss (left) was scathing in his assessment of his side’s loss to Manchester United
Defeat was PSG’s first in 25 Champions League group games at the Parc des Princes and Tuchel was left searching for answers as to why his side fell so short of the required level.
‘In the first half, we were simply not on the pitch,’ Tuchel told beIN SPORTS following the 2-1 loss. ‘It was not our level.
‘I don’t know why, but I can just say that it was not our level, in moving the ball, in possession, in counter-attacking, in challenges, in intensity.
‘By far, one of our worst games, one of our worst first halves.’
Marcus Rashford (right) was the difference as he scored late on to win the game for United
Tuchel accepted the only way was up in Group H as ‘it could not get any worse’ in the future
Tuchel shuffled his pack with a number of players out injured and it showed as the game wore on and depth became a factor.
RB Leipzig’s win over Istanbul Basaksehir has seen PSG fall to third in Group H.
But with Basaksehir next up for Tuchel’s side, they can arrest their alarming performance against United and return to winning ways with the boss convinced their performances ‘could not be worse’ from here.
‘The good news was that it could not be worse,’ he said.
‘Okay, we were down 1-0, it is easy to play better in the second half and we had to step up, it was clear,’ Tuchel added after star forward Neymar failed to score in four consecutive Champions League appearances for the first time since November 2013.
‘We tried to do some tactical changes because of the injury of Idrissa Gueye, we tried to bring on one more offensive guy, which was a risk that we paid for at the end also. It was like this today.
Kylian Mbappe (middle) struggled to make his mark as he was marshalled by United’s defence
‘From the start until the end it felt like we were never at our highest level, and we weren’t really into the match like was absolutely necessary on this level.’
Bruno Fernandes gave United the lead from a penalty, which was re-taken after Keylor Navas stepped off his line to save the first attempt, and it was 1-0 at the interval.
PSG returned with purpose, levelling when Anthony Martial headed into his own net from Neymar’s corner.
But United maintained belief and their dominance eventually told with three vital points as Rashford fired into the bottom corner after being picked out by substitute Paul Pogba.
