Monday, March 23, 2009

Paris Saint-Germain breaks down losing 4-1 to Toulouse

In a complete break down, Paris Saint-Germain showed little of the form they have played with this year and effectively channeled last years relegation threatened side as they fell 4-1 to Toulouse. The loss sends les Rouge et Bleu free-falling to sixth in the packed Ligue 1 table.

While the celebratory mood is naturally overflowing in the south-west, the Parisians performance was perplexing as they simply gave the match away with a series of adolescent mistakes. In a shape of things to come, TFC took the lead six minutes after the start on a mind-numbing error rarely seen at the professional level. As Étienne Didot lined up for a free-kick, Bryan Bergougnoux slowly circled to the left untouched and was played the ball to which he finished over Mickaël Landreau who must have wondered what happened to his defenders. While the Parisians attempted to rally the match unraveled before the break with two further goals. At the thirty-ninth minute PSG's defenders were embarrassed with as a long pass down the left flank found Cheikh M'Bengue who then played a clever one-two with Bryan Bergougnoux before dispatching to André-Pierre Gignac to finish from eleven metres. Now up by two, Toulouse went for the jugular adding the third goal before the break in another dreadful defensive display as Étienne Didot sent his corner to an unmarked Moussa Sissoko just outside the box which he finished with his right foot into the net. With another forty-five minutes to play PSG needed a goal fast to have a shred of a hope of getting back in and with twenty minutes remaining Larrys Mabiala did well to volley in off Sammy Traoré's pass that came off a well placed Jérôme Rothen free-kick to make it 3-1. However any hope was quickly squashed as Paris Saint-Germain were exposed at the back and Toulouse added its fourth and final goal with nine minutes remaining as Étienne Capoue split the defenders sending Daniel Braaten in alone and after circumventing Mickaël Landreau he sent the ball in from the edge of the six yard box. Without further mark the match concluded with PSG losing 4-1.