Neymar has started the season with many doubts. The Copa América brought him back to training later, and when he did, his physical condition was scrutinized. Some photos during the holidays set off the alarms and the performance on the pitch has not caused them to go off.
A goal and two assists in eight games are the poor baggage of the Brazilian at this point and, game by game, it is the focus of criticism directed at PSG.
One of the sharpest verbs in France is that of Jerome Rothen, who knows the Parisian entity well, since he played there between 2004 and 2009. Now, converted into an analyst, he conducts a program in Radio Montecarlo, ‘Rothen s’enflamme’, which he has used as a loudspeaker to charge against Mogi das Cruzes:
“It is not necessary to have played at the highest level to realize that Neymar today is not decisive. He is less shocking, less creative, even less altruistic. At all levels, he is below what he did in his best moments at the club.”
After that beginning, he continued his analysis and went further, since he affirmed that the footballer, far from adding, right now remains and has become one of the problems that Pochettino must solve if he wants his PSG to put aside doubts :
“Unfortunately, yes, it has become more of a burden for the collective than a solution. It has even become a problem for the coach, because you don’t handle Neymar like any other player.”
“He still has his privileges”
“When he is at this level, you can ask yourself, why does Pochettino insist on putting him in a systematic way?”, he wonders, to contextualize the above, and tries to find the answer to the problem: “Maybe going through the bench and then entering the game could boost it.”
“I do not understand that Pochettino leaves him on the field while, at times, it is a clamor that is below his level. Even when he is not well for an hour, he continues to have his privileges.” Rothen ends.
Be that as it may, for the moment, Neymar remains indisputable. We will see if it is something eternal in case it does not get back into shape.