Pochettino ‘disappointed’ to draw on debut

Paris Saint-Germain head coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted he was disappointed to began his spell in charge with a 1-1 draw at Saint-Etienne on Wednesday.

Romain Hamouma grabbed the opener for the home side in the 19th minute, before Moise Kean struck back just three minutes later with an equaliser.

That would be the end of the scoring, however, as PSG remained in second place in the Ligue 1 table, three points behind first-place Lyon.

Pochettino was appointed the new coach of PSG on Saturday, signing on a contract until the summer of 2022. The ex-Tottenham boss replaced Thomas Tuchel in the Paris side’s hot seat.

The Argentine said he was disappointed not to get his tenure off to a winning start, saying his side have an obligation to win.

“I am of course a little disappointed because we are PSG, so we must win,” Pochettino said.

“But after three days we had little time to prepare. There are a lot of things to work on that we have to improve. It is not a result that we wanted but it is clear that Saint-Etienne deserved this result.

“We must improve a lot. We tried to put into practice different concepts, but I’m happy that the players tried to apply them. I’m happy with the effort, the attitude. We have to improve with the ball. It was positive but there are many things to improve.”

PSG defender Marquinhos said the result wasn’t a shock after his side had just days to adjust to their new coach’s style of play.

“We knew that [Saint-Etienne] are a complicated team to maneuver against, who have tightened up the middle,” the Brazilian said.

“We tried to create, to animate. It’s the beginning of a new stage for us. We must continue to work and adapt to the new system of the coach.

“When you are behind, you have to push. They tried to counter several times, we lost a few balls and they scored. It’s always more difficult when you have to run after conceding.

“There were some difficulties in the game but we need to improve very quickly with the new system.”