Friday 20 January 2012

Kombouare speaks!

PSG are back in Coupe de France action tonight when they go to Le Mans to play Sable-sur-Sarthe. I've been to Le Mans and it's an awful place, so I imagine Carletto and the boys will want to get in and out as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Sable (literal translation: sand) play in CFA2, and are 12th in the table. Parallels with our previous CdF opponents Locmine then, but hopefully this time we'll do a better job of seeing off the amateurs. Ancelotti has already named his team, and gives a welcome start to Clement Chantome, while restoring Kevin Gameiro to the attack. Lugano is injured and Bodmer suspended.


Elsewhere this morning Antonine Kombouare has given his first interview since he was shabbily fired by the PSG before Christmas. Kombouare's behaviour post-takeover, a time when he was being undermined by Leonardo on an almost weekly basis, was very dignified, so it's no surprise that his interview strikes a similar tone.

"I do not feel betrayed," he said. "You are betrayed by family, by a friend. Here we were in a working relationship where I knew from the start what to think. I'm not bitter.

"I knew he [Leonardo] met with coaches, it was part of the way he works. So I knew it could be the end at any time."

AK said things came to a head after the 1-1 draw with Bordeaux in November, when Leo met CA for not-very-discreet-actually chat in Paris.

"With Leonardo, I knew what to expect and how he worked. I said now, if you want to fire me, OK, you lead your life and I will lead mine.We said things and then, for me it was over.

"The only reason I was fired because they hired Ancelotti. He is a titled coach, experienced and is able to attract great players. But I do not feel inferior to him. I think they had nothing against me. From the beginning, things were clear. He had not set a date but at no time did I think I could finish the season.

"I was prepared for him to put someone in my place who had won titles. There is a certain logic in that, and I had prepared myself accordingly.

"I am proud of the journey I went on in my two and a half years at PSG. We moved the club forward." 


AK goes on to say that he feels the experience post-QSI has made him a better coach, and that he hopes to go on to manage another big club in France or abroad. PSGT wishes him all the best and hopes to see him back in football soon, as long as it's not at Marseille.

But he denied he has been offered the vacant Monaco job. Given that they've just been taken over by a super-rich Russian, a move to the principality could be one straight out of the frying pan into a raging fire.

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