Paris Saint-Germain on Friday suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of rock-bottom Dijon, with coach Thomas Tuchel accusing his expensively assembled team of “being too passive and not playing together.”
Dijon, who started the day at the foot of the table with just nine points, fell behind to Kylian Mbappe’s fifth goal in seven games.
However, Mounir Chouiar leveled at the end of the first half before Venezuelan international Jhonder Cadiz hit the winner early in the second.
Photo: AFP
“We were too passive in the first half, not only in defense, but also in attack, because we did not play together,” Tuchel said. “We lacked precision and rhythm. It was much better in the second half because we had three shots before halftime and 17 after the break. Maybe we didn’t deserve to have success or luck with us today.”
PSG were without the injured Neymar, but looked more than capable of blowing away a Dijon team who had scored just six goals in 11 games before Friday’s match, which was played in torrential rain.
PREMIER LEAGUE
AFP, MANCHESTER, England
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has extended an invitation to England rugby union coach Eddie Jones to visit him after the Rugby World Cup in Japan, which ended yesterday.
Guardiola planned to watch on television. England lost to South Africa in the final.
His thoughts will then turn to City’s Premier League game at home to Southampton, which started after press time last night, but the Spaniard said he is keen to exchanges ideas with Jones.
Guardiola was in charge of Bayern Munich when Jones came to Germany to watch him up close in training and the Australian has described the City boss as a major influence on his coaching methods during England’s run to the World Cup final.
“We spoke once or twice and Eddie was so kind. It was a pleasure to see him and meet him,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday. “We talked about some movements in rugby. I’m a big fan and I watch on TV, but I don’t understand too much about the sport.”
“We can learn a lot from them,” he said. “We didn’t spend too much time together, but hopefully they can win the final and we can invite him and his staff to come here and talk more.”
The biggest admiration Guardiola has for rugby regards player recovery.
He said he is amazed at how they can bear the 80 minutes of intense and physical demands of the modern game.
“I will ask him how they can regenerate the players like they do after the games,” he said. “How can they survive? It’s incredible, I cannot imagine.”
BUNDESLIGA
AP, SINSHEIM, Germany
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Friday defeated struggling SC Paderborn 3-0 at home to stretch their winning run in the Bundesliga to four games.
Robert Skov opened the scoring with a free-kick in the second minute and was involved in the buildup as Pavel Kaderabek made it 2-0 in the 15th. Kaderabek then set up Jurgen Locadia for the third in the 28th.
Paderborn made two changes at the break, but labored to break through with Hoffenheim content to defend their lead.
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