Paris Saint-Germain hosted Angers this Friday at the Parc des Princes for Matchday 2 of the 2025-26 Ligue 1 season. The game ended with a narrow 1-0 victory for PSG. After the match, Angers head coach Alexandre Dujeux spoke at the press conference.
Dujeux: “We obviously cannot rely only on the talent of our players.”
A very defensive approach?
“What has allowed us to stay in Ligue 1 are our ideas of play. Tonight, it was difficult to have possession because PSG deprived us of the ball. But we are trying to put ideas into place. And then, there are moral values that are important. When you have the smallest budget in Ligue 1, you have to find ways to compete. We obviously cannot rely only on the talent of our players.
As for my influences, there are many coaches I admire, some I have worked with, others I watch closely. Of course, when you look at managers of the biggest clubs, they also have players with a much higher potential than ours. But we try to improve constantly, questioning ourselves and drawing inspiration from the best.”
Dujeux: “There are things to take away.”
A defeat that could still be useful, especially defensively?
“Tonight, we lost to a team far stronger than us. That’s obvious. But we defended intelligently and with commitment, since PSG only managed 4 shots on target. Which isn’t a huge number for a team of their caliber. Clearly, if we came here and lost heavily, it would make the next match much harder to approach.
This time, there are lessons to take away. Positive aspects, and things to improve. But given the gap in every department between us and PSG, there are definitely some elements worth keeping.”
Dujeux: “We were forced to do it.”
Any regrets about not offering more offensively?
“Of course. We defended deep, as most teams do against Paris. We were forced into it because of their technical mastery. In the first half, we looked for our strikers too quickly. After that, we combined more. It was better. There was even a nice shot that went just wide. We have to be satisfied with that, even if it’s not much.”
For the spectacle, fans would love to see Angers — like other teams — play more offensively. But it’s easy to understand that their main objective is to perform well and secure at least one point. Maybe that’s possible by coming out more, but the risks are very clear.
It will be up to PSG to keep raising their level and finding new solutions to make low blocks less “effective” or appealing. Paris’s suffocating pressing is also what forces opponents to retreat so deep. And coach Luis Enrique certainly doesn’t complain about that.
So, even if some may lament the lack of ambition, Dujeux can rightly be satisfied that his team showed relative solidity and such collective determination. It’s a foundation to build on, even though the upcoming games will be very different.
