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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jacob Leeks

PSG president addresses stars in tense dressing-room speech amid "unacceptable situation"

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi gave the club's stars a dressing down at their training session on Friday amid a dreadful run of results.

The French giants have struggled to regain their mojo after being knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich. They have lost two successive games, though still hold a comfortable lead in the Ligue 1 title race.

They were beaten by Lyon on Sunday, with Al-Khelaifi now taking drastic action in a bid to spur PSG out of their current slump. Boss Christophe Galtier revealed the Qatari had attended training on Friday and gave a speech in the dressing room.

"The president came to see us and spoke in the dressing room this morning. I think it was important that he was there and he was. Obviously, I have my share of responsibility as does the whole team," Galtier said.

"We are all aware of this. Once that has been said, what do we do? Do we carry on like this or do we react? I am obviously aware of the President's speech. His speech shows that we cannot continue like this. It was a clear and precise speech, aimed at everyone.

"There was a debrief about the performance against Lyon. I spoke to the group and told them that they had to show something different. The performance in the last match was not at all good enough. Afterwards, we had a week where everyone trained.

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PSG have endured a dreadful run of results this calendar year (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

"I had the impression that everyone was committed to preparing for this match in Nice. We've prepared well for this trip. I asked my players to show more commitment and personality. We know that we are capable of performing well."

Despite being dumped out of the Champions League, Galtier has insisted there is still a lot on the line for PSG this season. The Frenchman demanded his side keep their focus on the job at hand ahead of their trip to Nice on Saturday.

"There is a lot at stake for the club in winning its 11th league title. The first thing is to stay focused on the job. We must have the right analysis during this bad period. We have to work and find solutions," he added.

"We must not just blame one area, when we win then the victory belongs to everyone so it's the same when we lose. It is my job to make people aware of this. There is a lot of pressure from the competitors and we are not as far ahead as we have been in the past.

"We can't relax and I'll say it again, we need to have a big reaction in the games coming up. I have met with a few players one-on-one to clarify things and my thoughts. There is a general picture and then there are the individual cases.

"Everyone has trained well this week. There are some things we can do to improve different areas. Defensively, and in terms of our ability to defend as a block, we are very average. We have to make our game more attractive again, by getting forward more often."

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