Henry’s Monaco in disarray as PSG come to town

Paris: Winless in 15 matches and coming off the club’s heaviest European home defeat, it could well get worse for Thierry Henry and Monaco this weekend with the visit of runaway Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain.

Monaco’s flickering Champions League knockout hopes fizzled out completely with a “shameful” 4-0 defeat by Club Brugge in midweek, leaving Henry still chasing his first victory as manager since taking over from Leonardo Jardim.

The odds are massively stacked against his injury-depleted side ending that wait tomorrow. Monaco have lost their last seven meetings with PSG – including a 7-1 thrashing in the last league clash in April.

Meanwhile, PSG are off to a record-setting start with 12 successive wins, the best-ever start to any of Europe’s so-called big five leagues – Spain, England, Italy, Germany and France.

“We need to try and get back on the right track. I hope we’ll find the solution to stopping Paris,” said Henry, albeit admitting “the worst is possible”.

“We’re trying to do everything to regain a sense of calm but if you don’t win it’s difficult,” he added.

“We lost another player to injury in (Kamil) Glik. That’s not going to help matters as we already had 10 or 11 injured players. I have to be positive, otherwise what can you do?”

Henry received the backing of France boss and former teammate Didier Deschamps, Monaco’s coach when they reached the 2004 Champions League final, who believes the 41-year-old can excel in management.

“He is starting in a tough and difficult situation,” said Deschamps. “He’s just beginning but he has all the abilities to become a very good coach.”

PSG will look to put a turbulent week off the pitch to one side. The club has come under scrutiny following Football Leaks revelations about their breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations, while a probe is underway into claims that young players were subject to racial profiling by talent scouts. — AFP