Its now been a week after the collapse at the Camp Nou and the dust has been allowed to settle around the whole catastrophic event. Since then Paris Saint-Germian have been at the heart of a lot of negative news, not just in France, but over the whole world. So the question has to be put to the fans and the people high up in the club: does Unai Emery have a future at PSG?
It’s not the first tine this season that Emery has been in the spotlight. In late December I myself published an article about whether his time was up in Paris. But after that horrific end of 2016, the new year has been filled with hope and excitement for everyone surrounding PSG. Reaching the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, Semi’s of the French Cup topped with convincing performances all since the turn of the year.
But the high of beating Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg and demolishing rivals Marseille at the Velodrome all came crashing back down with to a almighty low when the unthinkable happened in Barcelona. Throwing away that incredible first leg lead in the most humiliating circumstances in front of the whole world has had severe effects across the club. First the news came out about the fans’ protest at the airport; Thiago Motta ramming his car into one of the fans. Then came stories about players being a nightclub just days before the clash with Barcelona and the whole Serge Aurier conundrum has seemed top off all the turmoil surrounding PSG.
Following the disastrous week PSG have had it’s natural for all fingers to be pointed at the manager. Unai Emery got his tactics spot on in Paris but it was a complete contrast in Spain. Paris played so deep and as a result they conceded in the first couple of minutes and, as they say, the rest is history.
His original tactics were extremely poor on the night, and his substitutions also came under a lot of scrutiny. It took him an hour to take off Lucas Moura and Blaise Matuidi who were both abysmal on the night; On top of that, bringing on Serge Aurier and Krychowiak were timid moves and ultimately was one of the main reasons Barcelona were allowed back into the game they had no right to win!
So despite getting the backing from the owners, is this the end of Unai Emery in Paris after his disgraceful performance? He was brought in to succeed in Europe but even though he has been largely at fault for turning PSG into a laughing stock over the past week, personally I do think he will be here next season. It’s a work in progress at Paris Saint Germain at this moment in time as they realize you need a bit more than money to become true champions in football. With the right backing behind Emery at this club, more leaders in and around the changing room and new world class signings in the summer, a step forward in the right direction will be made by this football club, to most importantly make sure what took place last Wednesday never, ever happens again.
PSGFans 