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: www.psgtourist.com 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/...

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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...

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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...

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The Rumour Mill: Blanc ready to go apple-bobbing for Chelsea ace?

I’m not a fan of Halloween. Round my way it usually involves vaguely menacing groups of teenagers, who have made minimum effort with their costumes, going door-to-door demanding sweets. Rarely are they grateful, though at least last year I wasn’t threatened with a knife or a gun, so I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies. Halloween means it’s nearly bonfire night, which means it’s nearly Christmas, which means it’s nearly time for the January transfer window. Hurrah. Speculation has already started about who will be going where, but Laurent Blanc refused to discuss whether he will be sticking his head into the apple bobbing pool and coming up with Chelsea’s Juan Mata clutched between his teeth. “The winter window? We'll discuss the period when the transfer window opens,” said...

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Saint-Etienne 2-2 PSG: Matuidi's late intervention saves heavy-legged Parisiens

Last season, Saint-Etienne came back from 2-0 down to claim a draw with Paris Saint-Germain in our match at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard. This year the roles were reversed, with PSG recovering from a two-goal deficit to leave ‘The Cauldron’ with a point thanks to Big Bad Blaise Matuidi’s last-gasp equaliser against his former club. "The legs were heavy, and the heads weren't clear either,” said Laurent Blanc, who perhaps should have dispensed some alka-seltzer during his pre-match team-talk. “I thought four days' recovery [after the Champions League game in Anderlecht] would be enough. But if PSG weren't good it's also because of Saint-Etienne. “We'd already shown our unity and tenacity at Marseille, and we'll need to have that because not every game will be as easy as the one at Anderlecht...

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Anderlecht 0-5 PSG: Belgians turned off by Ibra's fantastic four-play

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Anderlecht vs PSG: Blanc vows not to take Champions League opponents lightly

I've been to Belgium once in my life, on a school trip when we visited the battlefields at Ypres. While we were of course reverent of the great sacrifices made by the soldiers in the trenches during World War One, like most groups of kids on a school trip we were more interested in buying large quantities of sweets and locking Steve Gignac (name changed for legal reasons) in the coach toilet. Paris Saint-Germain are in Belgium today, but coach Larry White insists there will be no such larking about ahead of tonight's Champions League match with Anderlecht. "There is always the risk that you might underestimate your opponents when you come off the back of a good match in your championship and you have won your first games in the Champions League," said Blanc. "That can lead to complacency....

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Development of Verratti and Rabiot key to PSG's future prospects

Much has made of the fact that Paris Saint-Germain started with a camion-load of young players in Saturday's 4-0 win over Bastia. A cynic might say that coach Laurent Blanc's decision to play Digne, Ongenda, Rabiot et al was born out of a need to keep our big players fresh for tomorrow's Champions League match with Anderlecht, rather than a deep-rooted commitment to youth development, but nevertheless it's always nice to see young tyros charging around the pitch tearing shit up. PSG's youthfulness would have been even greater if Marco Verratti had been available. The 19-year-old missed the game due to suspension, though he was at the Parc des Princes on Saturday to pick up his September player-of-the-month award. The award reflects the flying start to the season made by the Italian playmaker....

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PSG 4-0 Bastia: Andy Murray mesmerised by Ibra as Paris claim straight sets win

Anyone seen the ibrahimovic goal vs bastia? #talent — Andy Murray (@andy_murray) October 20, 2013 If Andy Murray says it kids, it must be true. Has the Wimbledon champion been outed as a secret Ligue 1 connoisseur? I'll be keeping an eye on his Twitter feed for mentions of Lyon's poor start to the season or Herve Renard's appointment at Sochaux. Paris Saint-Germain continued their unbeaten start to the season with a straights sets demolition of Bastia at the Parc des Princes yesterday. Our 4-0 win, coupled with Monaco's draw at Renard's aforementioned Sochaux side earlier today, means we're now have a two-point lead at the top of the table. If we can keep this kind of form going there's no reason a second successive Grand Slam Ligue 1 title should be beyond our reach. "When you see the...

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Marseille 1-2 PSG: Team Paris triumph in the Turpinico

Team work, hard graft, and other such Tony Pulis-isms are not descriptors usually associated with Paris Saint-Germain. But the team displayed plenty of grit, spirit and all that other dour-but-necessary stuff as they recovered from 1-0 down to beat Marseille 2-1 at the Velodrome last night. We were also a player down after Thiago Motta's first half red card, and coach Laurent Blanc was understandably chuffed. "Desire was a very important factor this evening, because, given the circumstances, we couldn't have achieved anything without it," said Blanc. "We showed incredible solidarity. "We always believed we could win this match, even after the sending off. At half-time we all thought we could go on and win it. For the coaching staff and the players, it's immensely satisfying." I can assure...

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PSG 3-0 Benfica: Zlatan's birthday party begins in style

Today is Zlatan Ibrahimovic's birthday. Many happy returns to the big fella, who has just turned 32. Quite what sort of gift you would buy for a man who already has everything is open to debate, but Ibra gave Paris Saint-Germain fans an early present of his own by scoring twice as PSG cruised past Benfica 3-0 at the Parc des Princes last night. And they say he's a selfish man, pah! With six points and seven goals already on the board from their first two games, PSG have started their Champions League campaign in impressive fashion. Coach Laurent Blanc was a happy man afterwards. "The scoreline is perfect," said a jubilant White. "When you look at a game, you always have room for improvement, but I enjoyed it because we controlled the game and that is a key to our style. Tonight we got it...

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PSG vs Benfica: Champions League clash marks 100 days of Blanc

Today marks Laurent Blanc’s 100th in charge of Paris Saint-Germain. Given the absolutely shambles that surrounded Carlo Ancelotti leaving and the search for his replacement, Blanc can feel pretty happy with his work to date. The team is unbeaten in 10 games despite the change of manager and our selection problems at centre-back. And after initial concerns that some of the big name players wouldn’t comply with a coach who lacks Ancelotti’s profile, the likes of Thiago Silva and Zlatan are still around and have signed new deals. What’s more, we’ve seen signs that the team is starting to play in the style of Blanc’s Bordeaux and France sides: “Laurent Blanc has another method and another system,” said goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu. “Before, we were looking to move forward quickly. Now, we try...

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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,...

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Valenciennes 0-1 PSG: Cavani's impeccable timing saves sluggish Paris

Paris Saint-Germain’s commercial department have been busy recently securing a range of new sponsorship deals. Not content with having signed up Qatari telecoms firm Ooredoo (yes, they’re really called Ooredoo) and Nivea for Men in recent weeks, the club has now added Hublot as, wait for it, Official Timekeeper and Official Watch of PSG. What an honour for them. “Paris is the European capital for good taste, elegance and luxury,” said Hublot’s CEO Jean-Claude Biver. “Paris is the world tourism capital. And thanks to Paris Saint-Germain, Paris is the capital of European football. Hublot could afford to not be associated with this club and it is a privilege for Hublot to keep time for the future glorious hours of Paris Saint-Germain!" Whether this sponsorship deal had anything to do with...

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Valenciennes vs PSG: Ibra and his new deal dream of goals at the Stade de Hainaut

Paris Saint-Germain travel to Valenciennes tonight boosted by the news that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed a one-year contract extension. "I don't see a more ambitious club in Europe than Paris Saint-Germain,” said Zlatan, who is now contracted at the Parc des Princes until 2016. “My wish is that Paris Saint-Germain is my last big Club. This Club is like me: the dream is never big enough." What a load of bollocks, if those words actually flowed from Zlatan’s lovely mouth in that order I’ll eat my shoes. I hate all the marketing rubbish that surrounds the club these days, it’s not like Ibra doesn’t provide good quotes without some press office flunky putting words into his mouth. And check out the photo of the Swede putting pen-to-paper,...

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Cashico Conclusions: What did we learn from PSG 1-1 Monaco?

Sunday night's show-down at the Parc des Princes ended with honours even, as Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco played out a 1-1 draw. Zlatan Ibrahimovic emphatically opened the scoring early on from close-range after a delicious cross from Maxwell. Ibra referred to Maxwell as a teddy-bear a few weeks back, and the pair certainly enjoyed a long and loving cuddle following the goal. Alas, the lead didn't last long, with Falcao bundling in an equaliser from Joao Moutinho's cross. Merde. PSG had chances to regain the lead, notably through Ibra twice, then late on via Edinson Cavani, but couldn't find the winning goal their performance probably merited. So a point a piece, and the status quo remains at the top of Ligue 1. But what did we learn from the game? Here are some points to consider, in...

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PSG vs Monaco: Countdown to Le Cashico

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Starting to get worried about Zlatan? Don't

In their only hit of note, terrible pop band The Hoosiers were Worried About Ray. As far as I know, most Paris Saint-Germain fans don’t share the group’s concerns about anyone called Ray – except Domenech perhaps – but some are starting to get worried about Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Last season Ibra’s goal output was consistently impressive, starting with a double on debut against Lorient and ending the season with an impressive total of 30 goals in 33 matches, making him the first player to score 30 Ligue 1 goals since Jean-Pierre Papin in 1989. So far this term he hasn’t hit those heights, with one goal– a last minute strike against Guingamp – to show for his efforts in our opening five league games. Throw in his penalty miss against Olympiacos, and the presence of New Big Name on the Block...

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Olympiacos 1-4 PSG: Greeks cornered by Motta and Co

Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice? Last season, Paris Saint-Germain began their Champions League campaign with a 4-1 win that featured a debut goal from a Brazilian centre-back. Fast forward 12 months and the same thing has happened again. This year the opponents were Olympiacos, not Dynamo Kiev, and the debutant was Marquinhos not Thiago Silva, but the result and score-line remained happily unchanged. The only difference from last term is that this time we were away from home, making the win arguably more impressive. That said, the team’s performance did not quite match the swashbuckling destruction of Kiev, but boss Laurent Blanc was still a happy man afterwards. "It was a match of two halves,” he said. “We made too many mistakes in the first half, mostly because Olympiacos put...

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Olympiacos vs PSG: Parisiens seek to use the force as Champions League returns

Tonight is the start of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League episode two: The Empire Strikes back. One might argue we never really had an Empire in the first place, so it will be difficult to strike back, but what is true is that the squad assembled by the Emperor (President Nasser) and his evil side-kick Darth Vader (Leonardo) is currently in a galaxy far, far, away (Greece) preparing to taking on Olympiacos. So far during his reign Laurent Blanc has often resembled one of those startled officers who has to hastily take command of the Death Star after Vader has bumped off his predecessor. But Friday night's match against former club Bordeaux saw PSG put in an impressive display, and the ex-France coach will be hoping for a repeat of that showing in the Karaiskakis Stadium. "If...

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Bordeaux 0-2 PSG: Lucas gives Blanc Mour-a to smile about

So according to reports this weekend Gareth Bale turned down a switch to Paris Saint-Germain, while Cristiano Ronaldo was never really interested in the first place. Quelle surprise. While I'm sure Laurent Blanc would be happy to have either or both of the Real Madrid posers wingers in his squad, he already has a wide-man of his own to be proud of after Lucas Moura played a starring role in PSG's 2-0 win at Bordeaux on Friday. "Football is sometimes strange," said Blanc after our victory at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which came courtesy of goals from Moura and big bad Blaise Matuidi. "Our job is to prepare the match all week, elaborate how we'll play, strategies to beat our opponents. This one we didn't prepare at all, absolutely not, we got some players back from international duty...

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Bordeaux vs PSG: Wedding bells for Leo as Blanc returns to old flame

Choosing who to invite to your wedding is not an easy business. With limited space available, much of which is taken up by people who get invites by default (parents, siblings, pervy old uncles you only see once a decade), work colleagues can be a problematic area; who do you actually like enough to share your big day with? Will Miss Y the saleswoman get offended if she doesn’t get an invitation but her mate, Miss X the receptionist, does? It’s a complete minefield. Former Paris Saint-Germain director of football Leonardo recently celebrated his marriage to Italian TV presenter Anna Billo. You may remember that Leo proposed to his long-term partner live on television earlier this year, a romantic move which didn’t seem to please the fragrant Miss Billo at the time. However, she must have...

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Stupid PSG picture of the week: Get in line for a Zlatan burger

"I always knew that I would not leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer," said Zlatan Ibrahimovic at a press conference yesterday. "The club takes care of me very well." Always good to near nice words from the Z-man, who is currently away with the Sweden national team. In any case, Ibra can't leave Paris now as he has been immortalised by one of the city's bistros. I'm not entirely sure where in the city one would find this gastronomic delight, but it comes complete with it's own hackneyed Chuck Norris reference. Pic: @Margot_Dumont "To share, but Chuck Norris eats a whole one". I'm sure it's more funny in French. But which other PSG players would make good fast food? Here are a few ideas; [View the story "PSG fast food" on Stori...

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PSG 2-0 Guingamp: King Sakho is dead, long live Prince Rabiot?

Today is a sad one for Paris Saint-Germain fans, with the news that Mamadou Sakho has completed his transfer to Liverpool. I'm sure we'll all miss Mamad's happy smiling face and fondness of over-sized baseball caps, not to mention his usually rock-solid defending. Time pressures permitting, I'm planning a tribute piece for tomorrow's blog, so will go into more detail then. News of Sakho's impending departure broke on Friday, and there was a certain symbolism about Adrien Rabiot getting on the scoresheet as PSG beat Guingamp 2-0 at the Parc des Princes on Saturday afternoon. With Sakho and Clement Chantome gone, the club needs a new home-grown hero and the precocious Rabiot could well fit the bill. Though only 18, anyone who has seen Rabiot play will confirm that, in the immortal words of...

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PSG vs EA Guingamp: Three points the bear necessity for Zlatan, Maxwell and Co

“Maxwell is the best guy in the world. I mean if you want to have a teddy bear you have Maxwell.” As befits an author who has been nominated for Sweden’s top literary award, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has a way with words. Ibra was in particularly dazzling aural form this week, telling Ligue1.com all about his friendship with Maxwell. The pair have played together at Ajax, Inter Milan, Barcelona and now PSG, and their relationship stems back to the days when Ibra was shy retiring teenager in Holland. "I called Maxwell because Maxwell came to Ajax at the same time as me, so he picked me up at the airport and I got to know him a little bit more," explained Zlatan. "After two weeks I called Maxwell, I said 'I have problems'. And he was like 'ok',...

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The Rumour Mill: Cabaye saga rumbles on, Liverpool and Roma in Sakho chase

The current transfer window seems to be moving at the pace of a glacier; you know it’s going somewhere, but it’s impossible to see any progress and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Gareth Bale to Real Madrid? Wayne Rooney to Chelsea?Yohan Cabaye to Arsenal? These transfers have been threatening to happen for some weeks, but seem to be hovering somewhere in the distance like very expensive mirages. Paris Saint-Germain have invested in a few expensive mirages over the last couple of years, so it’s probably not a surprise to see the club’s name linked to all and sundry as we approach September 2. Chief among the possible inbound transfers is Newcastle midfielder Cabaye, a player Laurent Blanc has been making kissy faces at all summer long. Sadly for Blanc, he has yet to get past first...

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Nantes 1-2 PSG: Lavezzi's precious strike gives Blanc welcome three points

It wasn't particularly pretty, but PSG's season is up and running properly after last night's 2-1 win in Nantes. Last season it took us four matches to secure a first victory, so in that respect Laurent Blanc is making better progress than his predecessor Carlo Ancelotti. "I hope it's the first of a long winning run otherwise I'll be packing my bags before I've had chance to redecorate my office," said Blanc afterwards. "It was a tough result to get, but it's one that is more than precious to us. I thought we could have had an easier match. The beginning of our season has been complicated, and even getting a win has been complicated." Things didn't look particularly complicated for about half an hour. Lining up in a new-fangled 4-3-3 formation, with Pastore dropping into central midfield...

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Nantes vs PSG: Can Parisiens pounce on first win of the season?

Watching Paris Saint-Germain take on Ligue 1's smaller teams often reminds me of my cat (left) when he's hunting a spider. You know that the cat, with his massive size and speed advantage, will usually prevail. What's more, the cat is well aware of his own superiority, and is often happy to toy with his pray before administering the killer blow. But every now and again something goes wrong; Pamplemousse (yes, my cat is called Grapefruit) gets bored, or does something stupid, or the spider spots a way out and escapes to safety. Last Sunday the Ajaccio spider's survival instincts meant it left the Parce des Princes with all it's legs intact. And a hard-earned point. Laurent Blanc will be hoping his PSG side can rediscover their killer...

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