Luis Enrique has told his Paris Saint-Germain players they must turn criticism to their advantage as they look to end their winless start to Ligue 1 at Brest.
PSG put their domestic troubles to one side as they blew away Slovan Bratislava 6-1 in the Champions League in midweek but the reigning champions have only two points from their first three league games after losing 2-1 at home to Monaco last week.
In a press conference on Saturday, Luis Enrique was asked about criticism that has been directed at Illia Zabarnyi in recent weeks but he responded by saying everyone at the club needed to expect criticism and to use it as fuel.
“This is normal,” he said. “If you are at a club like Paris Saint-Germain there is always criticism. Even if you win six games, it might be the goalkeepers, the left-back, the centre-backs, the forwards who don’t score – this is normal.
“It is positive to have noise around us because it means this is a big club. If you look at what happened last year there was criticism of Ousmane Dembélé, of me, of Desire Doue who wasn’t up to standard.
“This is all normal. I think this is fair enough. You have to know you are at one of the biggest clubs in the world so it is normal there are demands of the players individually and you have to know you can improve every day.
“I wouldn’t say it is unfair. I think it is fair. It has to make you get better.”
Wednesday’s win was PSG’s first in all competitions this year after they lost the Trophee des Champions 1-0 to Lille and were held to draws by Rennes and Lille in their first two league matches.
“I can repeat myself all the time – I was very pleased with what I saw in the first three games despite the results being unfair,” Luis Enrique added.
“I think we deserve to be on more points but that is not the topic for now. It is true even if you win all three games there is room for improvement and that is what we are trying to control.
“We have improved in some small areas, particularly defensively in our last game, and I think we are ready to overcome this situation as a team. It is not one we are used to.
“Of course we are motivated to improve our performance level at Brest and then against Marseille. We need to pick up more points to get closer to the top. It will be very important to get the three points tomorrow.”
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