Paris Saint-Germain star, Kylian Mbappe has come out to say that opponents are aware of his frightening pace. He recently revealed that defenders are actually 30 metres further back when he is with the ball.
According to him, he is presently working on controlling his speed when he closes in on defenders to give him better control of situations during matches.
Mbappe added that he is looking forward to scoring 60 goals per season consistently.
His words, “Now I know my speed is scary. When I’m not playing, the opponent’s block is higher, at the limit of the halfway line,”
“When I’m on, it automatically goes back 30 metres, even for a team like Bayern Munich who are known to play high enough. Against us, they were 30 metres behind compared to usual.”
“Since the World Cup, it’s rare that I find myself in a one-on-one situation. Opponents, they do everything to avoid that. At the beginning, it was a little difficult but I think I knew how to evolve my game, in particular by avoiding getting stuck along the line.”
“With [PSG coach Mauricio] Pochettino, I worked on it a lot. I had to improve my finish, adapting it to my profile. When I arrive in front of a back line, I am at 37-38.5 km/h. It’s not quite the same as a player who arrives at 26 km/h.”
“I had to learn to decelerate a bit as I approached the goal to better control this speed. I was drawn in training to an area outside which I must not hit, because afterwards the angles are too small since I am too close to the goalkeeper.”
“It’s starting to come in because I scored quite a few goals this season shooting very quickly, even before the goalkeeper or the defender had time to react.”
“I’m just learning to manage this speed to, for example, switch to the approach of the goal from 38 to 33 km/h, which is usually the maximum speed of a defender. This reduction in speed should allow me to adjust as precisely as possible to ‘finish’ the action and avoid any rush.”
“I must be the player who creates the most chances in Europe, but I am not yet the one who scores the most.”
“Pochettino told me that if I could achieve more chances, I would end my seasons with more than 60 goals. He keeps telling me that I have to raise my standards and he is right.”
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