We're at rock bottom admits PSG coach

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Ailing French giant Paris Saint Germain hit rock bottom in Thursday's humiliating UEFA Cup loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv, coach Guy Lacombe conceded. After their worst ever start to the league Lacombe had called on his under-achieving players to silence the fans' unrest with a stirring performance against the Israelis at the Parc des Princes. Instead PSG produced what the French press described as a pitiful performance, going down 4-2 on a night marred by the shooting dead by a policeman of a PSG fan after the game. A group of around 40 PSG fans turned up at the club's training ground on Friday morning to vent their anger at management and players. Club president Alain Cayzac and winger Bernard Mendy emerged to speak to the supporters in a bid to calm them down but scuffles broke out forcing stewards to intervene. The incident forced the delay of Friday's training session where the mood will have been bleak following Thursday's debacle at the Parc des Princes. French sports daily L'Equipe led their Friday's edition with the headline: "Paris - the shame." "Smashed by Hapoel Tel Aviv PSG are in freefall and Guy Lacombe's position is untenable" the paper wrote. Inside it ran a photo of PSG fans holding up a banner declaring: "Lacombe, quit." Reflecting on this third consecutive defeat at home Lacombe, who took over from Laurent Fournier in December 2005, admitted: "We're at rock bottom. "This game wasn't about a problem of lack of effort but a lack of concentration." Asked if he felt this latest defeat had put his job as coach in jeopardy he replied: "No, not according to what the president has told me." He added: "Everyone at the club has to be held to account. We haven't learnt the lessons from the past, and I've told the players that. We don't have 'the fighting spirit.' "We have to find a solid foundation - for that you need the will, courage, and moral values." His team were booed off the pitch by their firebrand fans after the game and he said he understood the supporters' anger. "I'm sorry for the fans. How they're reacting to me is only normal." The big spending French capital side were looking to the UEFA Cup for salvation after a desperate run in the league which has left them languishing in 14th position, 21 points off leaders Lyon. Lacombe, the former coach of Sochaux, took over as PSG coach two days after Christmas last year after Fournier's sacking. Fournier was in the hot seat for a mere 10 months - Lacombe's succeeded in outstaying his predecessor by a month, but for how much longer he can hold onto his job is anyone's guess. The man himself though is philosophical about his future though, declaring before Thursday's Group G defeat: "I've got nothing to fear on a personal level. The day that I'm no longer coach of Paris St Germain, another coach will come in and the club will continue to go on without me."