a difficult challenge at Stade des Alpes

By: j | February 20th, 2009

Riding the crest of a four match winning streak PSG travel to face Grenoble Saturday evening. While the charm and beauty of the surrounding area is perfect is quite obvious, for a visiting Football club the Stade des Alpes can be a daunting task. Mehmed Baždarević’s side made a number of fine acquisitions during the transfer season and coming off successive draws to Valenciennes and Bordeaux. Strong on defending, Grenoble is putting forth a well disciplined, high-energy performance as they look secure their spot well outside of the relegation zone.

Given Paul Le Guen’s rather remarkable decision to keep Claude Makélélé, Ludovic Giuly, Stéphane Sessegnon, Mickaël Landreau, Ceará and Jérémy Clément out of the lineup that easily defeated Wolfsburg in the UEFA Cup, the squad is quite rested and ready to go. They have no new injuries and all are expected to play. Impressed with his contribution Tripy Makonda has been included in Paul Le Guen’s squad list.

The manager said of the match:

“We’re confident, even if we were beaten by Grenoble earlier this season. This team is hard to play against and will be playing in front of a sell out crowd. But we’re use to that. Grenoble used the January transfer window well to get the few missing pieces they need to reach their own goals.”

Of the keys to the match he added:

“We’re coming off a good performance away to Nantes and I’d like us to produce a repeat performance. We could drop to third or fourth place and still bounce back so there’s no need to panic. Nor get carried away with sitting second. The most important thing will be where we are at the end of the season.”

Enjoy the match and as always I will report on it as it concludes.