Rothen: Di Maria's PSG form affected by poor attitude

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Here's the ESPN article.

Angel Di Maria must change his attitude and make a greater effort to help Paris Saint-Germain out of their slump in form, Jerome Rothen says.

Di Maria, 28, has yet to find the net and provided just two assists in the opening seven league games this term in which PSG have already lost twice, as many defeats as they suffered in the whole of last season.

The Argentina international was again below his brilliant best in PSG's Champions League win over Ludogorets Razgrad on Wednesday, prompting former PSG man Rothen to question Di Maria's mental approach to matches.

Angel Di Maria's PSG form affected by poor attitude - Jerome Rothen told RMC. "When he goes into matches, he doesn't put himself in 'I'm going to be a warrior, I'm going to run, I'm going to make an effort' mode.

"He doesn't put in enough effort. He has to be given a stern talking to, like Ben Arfa. 'You change your attitude or you're not in the squad.' But it's difficult to do with players who are signed for so many million euros, with a status, with titles..."

A reported £44 million pound signing from Manchester United in 2015, Di Maria ended his first season in France with 18 assists, which represented a Ligue 1 high and was five more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, his nearest competitor.

After the French champions' win in Bulgaria, during which Di Maria managed just one shot on target from four attempts, Emery acknowledged his star attacking midfielder's form was the subject of debate.

"It's a question we talk about a lot in the dressing-room to improve performances," the former Sevilla coach said. "Di Maria is a very important player for us. I want to trust him, I want the players to trust him. I'm happy for him, because he is very committed."
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Some players need performance based pay, and he is definitely one of them.

He can be unplayable when he wants to, but other times it is like playing with 10 men. Half his salary and increase his performance pay and it he would soon start performing.

Although it would be difficult to get him to agree to such a deal, especially considering the current one he is on.
 
At Real, he didnt take it for granted. Now he is a starter and plays like a star player, doesnt put in much effort.

He was much more willing to run and do the dirty work in Spain, fighting. Now after the big money moves, he behaves like a diva. He knows he is too good to be benched.
 
izec said:
At Real, he didnt take it for granted. Now he is a starter and plays like a star player, doesnt put in much effort.

He was much more willing to run and do the dirty work in Spain, fighting. Now after the big money moves, he behaves like a diva. He knows he is too good to be benched.
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Also because he had much more competitors for his position, and Spain is, in general, a tougher league than the French one.
 
Not exactly a surprise that someone who moved from Real to (the current) United to PSG might not be burning with desire every single game.
 
do.ob said:
Not exactly a surprise that someone who moved from Real to (the current) United to PSG might not be burning with desire every single game.
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Why not? Players like Ozil, Sanchez, Higuain are playing with 100% effort even though they made a huge step down when it comes to clubs.
 
Shark said:
As much as I think Di Maria is a bit of a whining cnut, I do agree to an extent that we feck about players too much in different positions. Maybe it's down to us not having a definite starting 11 since the SAF days, but even then we did it. Can't remember the last time we had a team that you could name man for man our definitive starting eleven.
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The lot of you have short memories. Do you remember when SAF had a 50+ game streak of not playing the same team twice? Do you remember when he would play a team that would do well, and we all would be frustrated the next game when he would play a horrible team. Love SAF, but his last few years for us were super spotty line-up wise.
 
Do not miss him in the least. All the talent in the world but no heart, could never warm to him
 
Has great skill and I really really loved him at United at first (even bought the long sleeve with his name). But his attitude really stinks.
 
When we signed him I remember thinking a never say die attitude and ferocious work-rate would be two of his best qualities. Had no idea he was such an utterly spineless turd. As PSG also seem to be discovering.
 
Di Maria would've done well here had he stayed and been managed by Jose again. He needs a Jose
 
Pogue Mahone said:
When we signed him I remember thinking a never say die attitude and ferocious work-rate would be two of his best qualities. Had no idea he was such an utterly spineless turd. As PSG also seem to be discovering.
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You're wrong. Apparently, according to a previous poster, his lethargic performances have more to do with the fact that he was demotivated when having to transfer from lofty Real to lowly Utd, and then suffer the added ignominy of getting a move to that rabid stink-hole, PSG. You learn something new every day.
 
Not missed. Horrendous attitude, never embraced the club or indeed Manchester - despite the efforts of his teammates.

Not convinced he would've settled permanently, circumstances aside.

His contribution was so poor towards the end of his time here, that I was convinced he was engineering a move away.
 
He's a great player in a slight slump - some retired player doesn't change that. It's like Phil Neville questioning Pogbas attitude - we'd tell him to rightly get fecked.

We're as bad as the tabloids.
 
I had high hope for Di Maria, after his impressive performances in the champions league and the world cup, with hindsight though he had the wrong character profile for our club.
 
Camilo said:
He's a great player in a slight slump - some retired player doesn't change that. It's like Phil Neville questioning Pogbas attitude - we'd tell him to rightly get fecked.

We're as bad as the tabloids.
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Speak for yourself. His attitude stunk when he was here and his true colours are starting to show in France. He blames everyone but himself for his woes.
 
I'd rather have 3 Herreras than this guy, I don't care how good he is.
 
What an absolute wet blanket. LvG definitely wasn't the ideal manager for him but that doesn't exonerate him. Herrera was "treated" much worse, stuck it out and kept trying.
 
Was one of the players I admired the most in Ancelotti's Madrid team but I did feel that arriving as a 'star' at United would affect his performances.

All that aside, his attitude stunk and I'm glad we got rid after one season. I'd rather the current Rooney over him anyday (despite not liking Wayne at all!)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
When we signed him I remember thinking a never say die attitude and ferocious work-rate would be two of his best qualities. Had no idea he was such an utterly spineless turd. As PSG also seem to be discovering.
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Tbf, he did show those qualities when he was at Real. At least whenever I watched him...which admittedly wasn't always. Could it be that he was only willing to put in a shift when he was surrounded by players of a higher caliber?
 
We'll always have the QPR and Leicester (till 3-1) games to remind us what could have been.
 
Camilo said:
He's a great player in a slight slump - some retired player doesn't change that. It's like Phil Neville questioning Pogbas attitude - we'd tell him to rightly get fecked.

We're as bad as the tabloids.
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If Pogba ends up being flogged after proving himself miles short of the quality and atttitide required to justify his status as the PL's most expensive player then Phil Neville (and us) would be justified in questioning his attitude if/when he has a "slight slump" at his next club.
 
Remember when he caught the ball to take a throw in before it had gone off the pitch? That about summed him up for me.

Too stupid to be trusted to make any kind of decision.
 
Camilo said:
He's a great player in a slight slump - some retired player doesn't change that. It's like Phil Neville questioning Pogbas attitude - we'd tell him to rightly get fecked.

We're as bad as the tabloids.
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Why wouldn't Phil Neville be able to questions Pogba's attitude?

Di Maria is a worm. He couldn't hack it at United and ran away for an easy life in Paris. Good riddance.
 
Earthquake said:
Absolute fanny.

PSG should drop him like LvG did, they surely have some French Smashley-esque player just dying for a chance to prove themselves.
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Tbf we didn't really drop him till his red card forced us to replace him. The problem was that we didn't bench him before that
 
noodlehair said:
Remember when he caught the ball to take a throw in before it had gone off the pitch? That about summed him up for me.

Too stupid to be trusted to make any kind of decision.
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Lol. It's like he never was at United and we did well in getting about 45 mill for him.
 
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