Ligue 1 Review | Antoine Kombouaré’s wake-up call points Paris FC in new direction

Ligue 1 Review | Antoine Kombouaré’s wake-up call points Paris FC in new direction

Antoine Kombouaré arrived at Paris FC in late February with a clear objective in mind: survival. Despite newfound riches fuelling a summer spend of €57.30m, the club owned by the billionaire Arnault family and Red Bull found themselves in a relegation fight midway through the first season back in the top flight after a 46-year absence. A long-term plan for the future was met with panic, and so Kombouaré came to put out fires and steer the club away from the brink. 

A 4-1 win over AS Monaco on Friday evening has all but confirmed Kombouaré’s objective, with Paris on 35 points. 16 points clear of FC Nantes in the automatic relegation zone and 11 points above AJ Auxerre in the playoff spot. It would take a monumental reversal in fortunes for all involved for Paris to be dragged back into the fight at the bottom of the table. 

In the last seven games, Paris have gone unbeaten. Six of those have been under the guidance of Kombouaré, who has inserted a new mindset into a team that had spent so much of the season playing as if they hadn’t quite accepted the reality of their situation. Paris, it appeared, had bought into the glitz and the glamour of their new owners without realising that they had not yet earned it on the pitch. 

Maxime López made an example of

They needed Kombouaré to provide that wake-up call, as the former captain Maxime López explained, “The new coach brought us rigour and discipline. He came down hard, and I felt the brunt of it. It shocked the whole group and showed that there would be no favours.” Kombouaré made an example of the ex-Marseille man, dropping him from the matchday squad until the most recent two games. 

The lesson for every player in the squad was that status was no substitute for effort and performance, when even a player like López could find their starting spot stripped away from them. The result has been a team that looks to be pulling in the same direction and has the motivation and hunger to push for as high a position as possible. 

The win over Monaco was simply the latest example of the change in mentality within the capital club as they rushed to a three-goal lead within the first 21 minutes against a team that was on a seven-game winning streak in the league before this match. Each of the first three goals were a reflection of the other, with one-touch passing moves resulting in a cross to a free man at the far post. Even Monaco’s response from Folarin Balogun in the first half was shaken off by a wonder goal from the substitute Luca Koleosho in the 71st minute to put the game to bed. 

Under Kombouaré, Paris FC unlock a new path

As Kombouaré said after the victory over Monaco, “We’ve managed to restore confidence to this struggling team. The hardest part is now maintaining this momentum and humility.” With only five games left of the season and one last Parisian derby on offer, Paris have slowly found a new path forward, and one that could serve them well in their sophomore season back in the top flight. 

The aim is eventually for Paris FC to become one of the elite teams in France, but for them to get to that stage, they need to show the patience and hard work that has been displayed by Kombouaré. Perhaps one day, Kombouaré will face a similar fate to when he was replaced at Paris Saint-Germain by a more glamorous name in Carlo Ancelotti, but until then, Paris FC will have to learn that glamour alone will not be the way to survive and prosper in the trials of Ligue 1.

This week’s Ligue 1 sub-plots

• OGC Nice, perhaps, are wondering whether they should have appointed Kombouaré as they drew 1-1 at home to Le Havre AC. There were tensions reported in the dressing room at half-time, as well as on the pitch, as the squad and fanbase grappled with the real threat of relegation. Read more on this HERE.

• Olympique de Marseille ended their run of back-to-back defeats with a 3-1 win over bottom-of-the-table FC Metz. Despite the standard of opposition on display, Marseille made hard work of the occasion as doubts grow over the future of head coach Habib Beye amid the announcement of a new president. Read the full story HERE.

• Paris Saint-Germain were once again out of action for the weekend as the league accepted their request for a postponement, despite RC Lens’s objections. The league leaders travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool in their midweek UEFA Champions League decider.

GFFN | Nick Hartland