Monday 22 September 2014 10:01, UK
Paris St Germain coach Laurent Blanc admits his side are 'not good enough' to repeat their dominance of last season but has dismissed talk of a crisis.
PSG were held to their fourth draw in their opening six Ligue 1 games on Sunday as Lyon's Samuel Umtiti cancelled out Edinson Cavani's opener at the Parc des Princes.
The result left Blanc's men fifth in the table, three points behind the lead shared by Bordeaux, St Etienne - who PSG beat 5-0 in week four of the season - and their traditional rivals Marseille.
When the word 'crisis' was broached in his post-match press conference, Blanc responded scornfully: "You normally await the 'crisis' in November - there, you will have the crisis in October.
"We know the rules. When you are in a club like PSG, you must get results.
"We must be aware that we are not good enough to control matches the way we did last season and we have to throw ourselves back into our work."
Midfielder Blaise Matuidi was at a loss to explain what is happening to PSG, admitting: "We want to find a solution, it's hard to understand", while striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic stormed away from a post-match video interview screened on L'Equipe's website.
The Sweden international was reminded he had spoken about "problems" with PSG after their Champions League game with Ajax - which ended in yet another draw - and was asked whether the Lyon game was any better.
"I said it was the problem in the field, and you talk about problems outside the field," said Ibrahimovic, adding as he walked away: "So either you talk about what I'm saying, or not."
Blanc, at least, was prepared to discuss the Lyon game and said: "The first period, although we were not as dominant as we were against St Etienne, was overall very good but the second period was very disappointing.
"The errors we made in the second half... we need to reflect on them a bit. We wanted to score another goal and we exposed ourselves to counter-attacks from 60 metres. There are times when you have to know to tighten up the game and settle for 1-0.
"We did some unbelievable things. From a corner, we tried a dribble instead of a shot and opened ourselves up to a counter-attack."
