Former Ligue 1 referee, Saïd Enjimi confided in Ouest-France on the management of certain players, including the stars of Paris Saint-Germain.
They are there at all matches. They embody authority, but their word is scarce. Saïd Enjimi led more than 250 Ligue 1 matches between 2005 and 2017. In an interview with West France, the former French referee gave his view on various facts of the game, such as the simulation. “It is permanent” and “extremely painful”, regrets Enjimi, but “it is part of the game”. In the family of elements that annoy referees, we find the dispute. How to manage players and avoid overflows during a match? Enjimi has seriously studied the matter.
“In the field, you have to do a lot of psychology.”
Said Enjimi
“In the field, you have to do a lot of psychology,” explains Enjimi. When a referee is too picky or too lax, he pushes the players up the towers very quickly. ” Paradoxically (or not), the greatest players are not the most difficult to referee because “they are used to playing so we intervene less”. The former Ligue 1 referee insists on the notion of “management”, and cites the examples of two Paris Saint-Germain players: Neymar and Marco Verratti. The Italian midfielder is particularly renowned for its collection of yellow cards and its propensity to challenge arbitration decisions. “It does not eat much to learn a few words of Brazilian or Italian to try to relax the atmosphere a little and bring the player back to the game, said Enjimi. It’s also part of the referee’s job. ” In 218 Ligue 1 matches, Verratti received 65 warnings, or one in every 3.3 league matches with PSG.
The best of Neymar with Paris Saint-Germain
