Paul, you’ve chosen a 19-man squad for this match... Why?
“There’s a little fitness doubt over Fabrice Pancrate. He jogged this afternoon but still hasn’t kicked a football yet. He’s doing better than Friday, but needs to get better still to be able to play on Sunday. So picking 19 players is just a precaution. I do that from time to time and I think it’s justified. Stéphane Sessegnon trained today without any problems, so he could start. He played last Sunday against Rennes, so he hasn’t been out of action too long.”

What did you make of PSG’s last two games?
“In terms of points, it wasn’t good. We lost against Rennes and got a point for the draw against Manchester City. Even if it’s never easy to play away in England, we have to admit that the result was not enough. Having said that, we played well. I don’t have a whole lot to say to my players, if not that they lack the final touch in front of goal. We haven’t scored in 180 minutes of football and we created lots of opportunities.

Have your attackers lost confidence?
“No, I don’t think so. We played with different strikers in the two games. I just don’t think we had any luck. We were up against a brilliant ‘keeper in Nicolas Douchez against Rennes and a very good ‘keeper against Manchester City. That’s one reason for it. Guillaume Hoarau was top scorer in Ligue 2 last season and has already gone through periods of not scoring. Ludovic Giuly and Mateja Kezman have plenty of experience and Peguy Luyindula scored recently. But it’s not only the strikers who had goal scoring chances.”

What do you think of this Le Mans side?
“They’ve alternated the very good with the fairly average so far this season. They have been brilliant at times, but overrun at others. We don’t know which one we’ll be playing against on Sunday. We’ve tried to prepare to be ready for anything. They would appear to have a good balance between youth and experience. We have to be wary. Teams always come to the Parc des Princes with a different face to the one they normally show.”