Tuesday 1 October 2013

PSG terminate Toulouse as Hoeness bears all about Zlatan

Paris Saint-Germain won again at the weekend, beating Toulouse 2-0 at the Parc des Princes.

As against Valenciennes on Wednesday, Laurent Blanc's men were decidedly below par, but took the lead in the first half. Marquinhos connected with a Thiago Motta free kick, and though his initial effort was blocked by the keeper, the ball rebounded off a purple-shirted man back into the Brazilian's path, and he scrambled in his first Ligue 1 goal.

PSG dominated possession, but at 1-0 you're always vulnerable to a goal against the run of play, and it wasn't until substitute Edinson Cavani slotted home a late penalty that Blanc could breathe easy. With Monaco only drawing against Reims, we're now level with Catherine Deneuve's men at the top of the table, though we trail the new-boys on goal difference.

"Compared to our win in Valenciennes, this one was much better," said Blanc, suggesting that those glasses he wears may have an invisible rose tint.

"It was a deserved win. That's six points from two matches, and 18 points from eight. Still, we can do better in terms of our cutting edge; I've been surprised at the number of chances we've been creating, especially at home, but we're not putting enough of them away. If we can lift our conversion rate, we'll see some spectacular games."

We all like a bit of spectacularness, and Wednesday's Champions League game against Benfica would be a nice time to see some. More on that tomorrow.

Cavani had been left on the bench for the match, meaning the debate about whether he can play in the same team as Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues. One man who is convinced that Zlatan is the problem - and indeed is at the root of all evil in the world - is Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness.

Responding to Ibra's continued criticism of current Bayern boss Pep Guardiola, Hoeness told Bild: "We have a completely different opinion than Zlatan Ibrahimovic. We are very satisfied with Pep Guardiola.

"Ibrahimovic is a bitter prima donna if you ask me. He has never really gotten over his Barcelona exit. No team has ever been happy with him. He's a problem-bear."

I was particularly unhappy when we won the league last season, damn you Zlatan and your knack of winning trophies. You'll notice, too, that Hoeness did not criticise Ibra's record of paying tax - must be nice up there on the moral high ground, ahem.

And what is a Problem-Bear anyway? I assume it must be a German saying. Fresh on the back of the revelation that Maxwell is a teddy-bear, we seem to have a very bear-heavy squad; rumours that the home changing room at the Parc is being turned into a Den have yet to be confirmed.

Uli should be careful he doesn't run into a Problem-bear when he's out walking in the woods. He might end up getting Taekwondoed:


We'll see if Zlatan has anything to say in response when he and Blanc give a pre-Champions League press conference later today.

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