PARIS, January 14 (Ligue 1) - The future suddenly looks brighter for Paris St Germain following a weekend which saw them bring an end to their catastrophic home record and move closer to signing Brazil striker Fred.
The phrase 'crisis club' has stuck with PSG for the last couple of seasons, but things are starting to look up for Paul Le Guen's side.
The 3-0 victory over Lens was PSG's first win at the Parc des Princes since May last year, and it lifted them to 11th in a congested Ligue 1 table.
They are now only seven points off the European spots and extended their winning run to three matches.
The capital club may also be close to completing the signing of Lyon star Fred, who would be seen as a long-term replacement for their retiring talisman Pedro Pauleta.
Fred has admitted favouring a move to PSG, even though a number of English clubs are said to be interested in him.
PSG appear ready to splash out a reported fee of 12million euros to get their man, and a deal could be completed by the middle of this week.
All in all, it has been a good few days for Le Guen, who has been under scrutiny over the last couple of months.
He was especially happy to have seen his team end their Parc hoodoo. Before the weekend, they had lost six and drawn four of their 10 home games this campaign.
Le Guen said: ``This victory is good for the whole club. It is equally good for the fans. It allows us to be more optimistic as regards our future home games.
``Towards the end of the match, we took pleasure in playing in front of our fans, because we knew we were finally going to get what we have been looking for for so long.
``This will help us climb into the top half of the table. The league is so tightly matched and the situation is really complicated.
``We are still under pressure and we are still in the bottom half but we aren't so far from the top.
``Now, we must work hard to get there.''
This weekend's triumph was particularly important given PSG were playing against one of their rivals at the foot of the table.
Lens, who have already been knocked out of the Coupe de France, remain rooted in the bottom three and their current form is dismal.
They held out for 58 minutes on Sunday, but could not stop substitute Pauleta opening the scoring.
Another replacement, Amara Diane, then bagged a brace in the space of three minutes to seal the three points.
``I am happy,'' said Le Guen.
``We knew to be patient, that we couldn't lose our organisation and that we had to stay focused, something we didn't do against Toulouse (in the last home match).''
PSG goalkeeper Mickael Landreau added: ``We knew the importance of scoring the first goal.
``That goal freed things up for us, especially since we were playing a team who have been doubting themselves recently.''
Pauleta once again showed he still has that eye for goal, but repeated his desire to quit football at the end of the season.
by soccernet.espn.go.com
The phrase 'crisis club' has stuck with PSG for the last couple of seasons, but things are starting to look up for Paul Le Guen's side.
The 3-0 victory over Lens was PSG's first win at the Parc des Princes since May last year, and it lifted them to 11th in a congested Ligue 1 table.
They are now only seven points off the European spots and extended their winning run to three matches.
The capital club may also be close to completing the signing of Lyon star Fred, who would be seen as a long-term replacement for their retiring talisman Pedro Pauleta.
Fred has admitted favouring a move to PSG, even though a number of English clubs are said to be interested in him.
PSG appear ready to splash out a reported fee of 12million euros to get their man, and a deal could be completed by the middle of this week.
All in all, it has been a good few days for Le Guen, who has been under scrutiny over the last couple of months.
He was especially happy to have seen his team end their Parc hoodoo. Before the weekend, they had lost six and drawn four of their 10 home games this campaign.
Le Guen said: ``This victory is good for the whole club. It is equally good for the fans. It allows us to be more optimistic as regards our future home games.
``Towards the end of the match, we took pleasure in playing in front of our fans, because we knew we were finally going to get what we have been looking for for so long.
``This will help us climb into the top half of the table. The league is so tightly matched and the situation is really complicated.
``We are still under pressure and we are still in the bottom half but we aren't so far from the top.
``Now, we must work hard to get there.''
This weekend's triumph was particularly important given PSG were playing against one of their rivals at the foot of the table.
Lens, who have already been knocked out of the Coupe de France, remain rooted in the bottom three and their current form is dismal.
They held out for 58 minutes on Sunday, but could not stop substitute Pauleta opening the scoring.
Another replacement, Amara Diane, then bagged a brace in the space of three minutes to seal the three points.
``I am happy,'' said Le Guen.
``We knew to be patient, that we couldn't lose our organisation and that we had to stay focused, something we didn't do against Toulouse (in the last home match).''
PSG goalkeeper Mickael Landreau added: ``We knew the importance of scoring the first goal.
``That goal freed things up for us, especially since we were playing a team who have been doubting themselves recently.''
Pauleta once again showed he still has that eye for goal, but repeated his desire to quit football at the end of the season.
by soccernet.espn.go.com
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