Monday 25 November 2013

PSG Tourist has moved

Everyone needs a change of scenery once in a while, including bloggers.

As of today, the Paris Saint-Germain Tourist blog can be found at a new home, please update your bookmarks to:


Fear not, the new site will be full of the usual Jezza Menez love lame jokes about Andre Pierre-Gignac being fat made up transfer rumours stupid pictures of Zlatan high-quality and thought-provoking content about PSG and French football. See you there.

MG, 25/11/13

Thursday 7 November 2013

Stupid PSG picture of the week: All I want for Christmas is an Ibra doll

Paris Saint-Germain resumed their role as football’s coupon-busters on Tuesday night when they only managed a 1-1 draw with Anderlecht in the Champions League.

Despite dominating possession, PSG lacked sharpness in both boxes, and Demy de Zeeuw gave the Belgian visitors a shock lead in the 50th minute. Sadly for them it only last two minutes, as Ezequiel Lavezzi and Blaise Matuidi fashioned a chance for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which he gobbled up at the second attempt after his initial effort had come back off the post.

Even though he scored the goal, his seventh in the Champions League this season, Zlats was not at his best, suggesting that he’s not fully recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of last Friday’s win over Lorient.

But his spirits will have been lifted by the news that he is set to become this year’s must-have Christmas toy.
Yes, forget Furbies, Tamagotchis (what do you mean you already had?) and Buzz Lightyear action figures, this year the kids will all be clamouring to get their hands on a Zlatan doll.

Measuring 35cm and coming with a price tag of €35, the dolls are available in the official clubs stores as well as online at poupluche.com, where you can also purchase a range of other PSG player dolls including Pastore, Cavani and Thiago Silva. I haven’t managed to get my hands on one yet, so can’t confirm whether the Pastore doll is more mobile than the real-life version.

Who wouldn't want to find one of these in their stocking?



Tuesday 5 November 2013

PSG vs Anderlecht: Blanc to bag new contact after impressive start?

Paris Saint-Germain continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 4-0 win over Lorient on Friday night.

Many Bretons have been wearing red caps recently in protest against government tax hikes, but white flags would have been more appropriate for Christian Gourcuff's team in the first half of the match at the Parc des Princes, as PSG sliced through them like a couteau through beurre.

Lucas Moura opened the scoring with an emphatic finish from Lucas Digne's left-wing cross, before Jezza Menezza doubled our advantage with his first goal of the season after great work from Marco Verratti.

Verratti was in sumptuous form once again, dictating the tempo of the match and spraying inch-perfect passes all over the pitch. In fact, so busy was the Italian that he didn't even find time to conduct his usual running battle with the match officials, weird. Anyway, Edinson Cavani, who was playing the central striker's role in Zlatan's absence through injury, headed in a third just before half-time, then added a fourth from close range in the closing stages. PSG barely got out of third gear in the second half, but by then the damage was done, and Monaco's defeat to Lille on Sunday means we now have a three-point cushion at the top of Ligue 1.

Cavani will be absent for tonight's Champions League match against Anderlecht at the Parc des Princes with a slight thigh strain, but sadly for the Belgian side it seems the ringleader of their tormentors from the first leg, Ibra, will be back after shaking off a knee problem. Elsewhere in the team, boss Laurent Blanc has some decisions to make; Thiago Silva is fit again and likely to start the match, so White must choose between Alex and Marquinhos to partner the skipper. Lucas and Menez both impressed against Lorient, but you would imagine it will be one of them, plus Lavezzi, up top with Zlatan.

PSG won 5-0 in Anderlecht a couple of weeks ago, and it's difficult to see any other outcome than a home victory tonight.

"I've heard people say, 'It's difficult to get motivated'. If we're not motivated for this match, I won't understand it at all. It's got nothing to do with the first game," said Blanc, delving into his big book of football manager clichés.

"We have to think that we have the possibility to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League. We suffered against Olympiakos, we did what we had to do against Benfica and Anderlecht.

"We can confirm all of that by qualifying, and that's where our motivation should lie. So it's a very important match, perhaps the most important of the group."

Life is pretty sweet for Larry at the moment, and could be set to get even sweeter when he signs a new contract. According to a report in L'Equipe today, President Nasser is considering handing Blanc an improved deal as a result of PSG's impressive start to the season. You may remember that in the summer Blanc signed a two-year contract, but one that was heavily weighted financially towards the first year. The feeling was that the club saw him as a one-season solution as they continued to chase Arsene Wenger.

It is to the former France coach's great credit that his performance so far appears to have changed QSI's minds. There's no doubt he has improved the style of play compared to last season, and in terms of results unbeaten runs in the Ligue 1 and the Champions League are not to be sniffed at. He even seems to have won round some of our sceptical fans who were put off by his previous ties to that lot from the south.

There's a long way to go in the season of course, but if Blanc does get a pay-rise, few would argue that he doesn't deserve it.

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