Bradley Barcola, 22-year-old winger with the French national team and Paris Saint-Germain, opened up in a lengthy interview with Le Parisien. He explained what has changed since last year, and in particular his desire to become a stronger finisher. In particular, he said he needed to shoot more on goal. Finally, he assures us that he is working hard to improve his finishing.
Barcola “ He reminded me that I was first and foremost a striker, and what you ask of a striker is to score”.
“Did you approach this season with the idea of being more decisive in front of goal?
Yes, definitely. That’s what I lacked last year. I was more of a hard-hitting winger, I didn’t have that killer touch. The coach was the first to reproach me for that. He always told me that what I was doing was fine, but he reminded me that I was first and foremost a striker, and what you want from a striker is to score. I had to incorporate that into my game. If I did, he was sure I was going to be a very, very good player.
Barcola: “ I also do a lot after the sessions”.
Did something click?
It’s mainly a question of mentality. You need to be more focused, to have the desire to score and have people score. You really have to get it into your head to say, “Today, I’ve got to do something!
You had a bit of your “special” today with that curling shot from the left…
(He laughs) It’s not yet 100% mastered. But I’ve been working on it a lot in training and it’s improving a lot. When you have little finishing games, and we do a lot of them, you have to work on the gestures seriously, knowing that in matches I’ll be able to reproduce them. I also work hard after the sessions.
Barcola “ I’ve been working a lot on my finishing”.
Is there anything in particular that you’re doing this year that you didn’t do last year?
Shooting, for one. Last year, I was shown a statistic: I really didn’t have many shots. I worked a lot on finishing. I told myself that as soon as I got the ball to shoot, I had to take responsibility. And that’s what I’m doing.
You’re not just a goalscorer, you’re also a passer. We saw that again against Lens on Saturday. Which do you enjoy more: the goal or the final pass?
As a striker, I prefer to score. But I also enjoy scoring goals for my partners.
He can run fast, he can score a few goals, he can put the opposition to the sword, but as long as he has a ratio of chances far too superior to his number of goals, there will be a mixed feeling reigning. In a match, there’s a good chance he’ll be decisive, but in Paris, we ask more of him.
Scoring is good, but if he has 5 chances or makes a good pass and it only converts into 1 goal, then it’s not good enough. He needs to work on making his game even more realistic. He needs to turn up the heat.
In many teams, his statistics would be very good, and in Paris, they’re starting to take off, but given the differences he makes, it’s still not enough. It’s up to him to get over this hurdle, to be even more composed in front of goal. When he manages to string together games where he’s doubly decisive, then he’ll have gained time and reached a milestone.
