Ex Rennes manager Sabri Lamouchi criticises Luis Enrique’s handling of Kylian Mbappé

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·15 April 2024

Ex Rennes manager Sabri Lamouchi criticises Luis Enrique’s handling of Kylian Mbappé

Former AJ Auxerre midfielder and Stade Rennais coach Sabri Lamouchi has criticised Paris Saint-Germain manager Luis Enrique’s handling of star Kylian Mbappé (25).

In an interview with L’Équipe, the former Cote d’Ivoire and Nottingham Forest coach pointed the finger at Luis Enrique, essentially accusing the Spaniard of failing to get the most from his star player in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat to FC Barcelona (2-3) at the Parc des Princes last week:

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“We know the personality, the style of play, the trophies won by Luis Enrique and you have to respect that, but the fact that he didn’t put his best player at the heart of his gameplan is not normal. Personally, my best player will go straight to the heart of the game, because he’ll make the others better or because he will attract opposition players, and that will free up space elsewhere.”

Lamouchi, who was capped 12 times for France between 1996 and 2001, continued by drawing a parallel to how Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps has used the PSG star:

“What I notice factually is that Deschamps made this choice with the national team, and the results from the last two world cups speak for themselves. The question is not even to put him in the best conditions, but to use him in a way that makes life hard for opponents. Let’s take the example of last Wednesday. If Enrique had put Kylian in the middle, he could’ve made life harder for Cubarsi and Araujo, arriving at speed. With quick players around him like Barcola and Dembélé, PSG could have caused more damage than they did.”

Considering Mbappé has 39 goals in all competitions for the club this season, Enrique might decide to discard Lamouchi’s comments and continue playing the Frenchman on the left in the capital club’s most important game of the season, although given how ineffective the Frenchman was for the majority of the first leg, he may well give the idea of moving him into the middle some serious thought.

GFFN | Jack McArdle