Angers SCO vs Paris Saint Germain: Olivier Pickeu pleased with Angers' exploits

Posted Tuesday, December 01, 2015 by PA

Olivier Pickeu is not yet satisfied with Angers' exploits in Ligue 1 as the season's surprise package prepare to entertain reigning champions Paris St Germain.

The promoted Maine-et-Loire outfit are third after 15 games and, along with second-placed Caen, represent one of the only real threats to PSG's seemingly inexorable march towards another title.

But director of sport Pickeu remains more concerned by the threat of relegation.

He told L'Equipe: "We are happy, very happy, with what is happening, but I cannot be satisfied.

"I don't know if it's fashionable to say this, but I can't be satisfied until we've achieved our objective of securing our future in the division. I'm still rather on edge about that.

"This run has got to go on and I know very well that it will only continue if we remain on red alert.

"Nothing scares me. I'm afraid that something bad will happen to me or to one of my players, sure, but I'm certainly not afraid of Ligue 1 football matches.

"I said at the beginning of the season that the very worst thing that could happen would be going down, and even then we could say that we had learned something.

"And it is no less the case today, except that we have a few more points than I imagined we would!"

PSG boss Laurent Blanc is remaining similarly grounded despite overseeing his side's ninth straight league win - a 4-1 conquest of Troyes - at the weekend.

With confidence levels soaring, the capital club went on to trounce Malmo 5-0 in the Champions League.

"It's a good thing that we're top at the end of autumn, because that means we've picked up a lot of points," he told reporters at the Parc des Princes.

"But that doesn't means we'll be the champions at the end of the season.

"We've been playing with the same sense of determination and in the right frame of mind for the last five or six games.

"If a coach can't be happy with a 4-1 victory then he's certainly got to be pleased with a 5-0 win in the week... but still we need to move on to thinking about how to approach the Angers game."