Paris, Jan 15: Paris Saint-Germain gave new coach Carlo Ancelotti his first home win by beating Toulouse 3-1 to maintain its lead at the top of the French first division on Saturday.
Nene scored in each half as PSG gradually applied the pressure after making a slow start, and record signing Javier Pastore added the other goal to make it a memorable night for Ancelotti.
Despite a pleasing night for most of the 45,000 fans at Parc des Princes, Ancelotti expected more from his players.
"We have to improve our way of playing, we want to play good football for the whole match," said Ancelotti, who twice won the Champions League with AC Milan as both player and coach. "We had a lot of chances to score more tonight."
PSG remains three points clear of Montpellier, which beat Lyon 1-0 thanks to top scorer Olivier Giroud's 14th league goal of the season. There was pushing and shoving in the tunnel between both teams after the game.
"It was a deserved victory," said Montpellier coach Rene Girard, whose son was involved in a heated verbal exchange with Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez. "I don't have any lessons to learn from (Michel) Bastos or Lopez."
On Sunday, French champion Lille plays at resurgent Marseille.
Ancelotti is already making his mark at PSG.
The Italian coach left out Kevin Gameiro, a first-choice striker under former coach Antoine Kombouare, while Mevlut Erding was not even on the bench. Ancelotti moved Jeremy Menez off the wing and put him at center forward.
PSG has missed out on signing former England captain David Beckham and AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato, but Ancelotti remains confident a big name will arrive soon, with PSG also linked with a move for Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez.
"I would like to have the best players to improve the team," Ancelotti said. "That's the club's objective."
PSG's new formation, with Pastore and Nene flanking Menez, failed to click in a drab first half, and PSG's opening goal in the 38th minute had a touch of good fortune about it.
A cross from the right looked harmless enough, but Serbian defender Pavle Ninkov slipped as he went to clear the ball, and Nene pounced to beat goalkeeper Ali Ahamada with a shot that took a slight deflection.
Pastore then made it 2-0 in the 56th. Menez turned provider as he slipped a pass to Pastore as he ran into space, and the midfielder took the ball past Daniel Congre with one touch and stroked it into the bottom right corner.
Nene's second goal was the best of the night, as he controlled a high pass on his chest, skipped past a defender on the edge of the area, drew Ahamada off his line and clipped the ball into the corner.
Daniel Braaten scored late on for Toulouse.
PSG has 43 points after 20 matches, Montpellier has 40, Lille 36, and Lyon stays in fourth place with 35.
Montpellier may not have PSG's millions, but it does have consistency and team spirit.
Coach Rene Girard's team finally broke Lyon's resistance in the 62nd.
Midfielder Geoffrey Dernis clipped over the top of Lyon's defense and Giroud let the ball bounce once before clipping it through France goalie Hugo Lloris' legs.
Fifth-place Rennes moved level on points with Lyon after winning 2-0 at Caen, thanks to a goal in each half from strikers Jires Kembo-Ekoko and Victor Hugo Montano.
Saint-Etienne beat Sochaux 1-0 at home, with 17-year-old defender Kurt Zouma heading in a late winner from a corner.
In other results, it was: Ajaccio 2, Auxerre 1; Bordeaux 2, Valenciennes 1; Brest 1, Nice 0; Dijon 3, Evian 1, and Nancy 2, Lorient 2.
Brazilian Jussie and Nicolas Maurice-Belay put Bordeaux 2-0 up, before Foued Kadir replied for Valenciennes early in the second half. The visitors' defender, Nicolas Isimat-Mirin, was sent off in the 62nd.
Benjamin Moukandjo put Nancy ahead in the 14th, but Mathieu Coutadeur equalized for Lorient and striker Joel Campbell, who is on loan from Arsenal, then gave Lorient the lead only for Salif Sane to make it 2-2.
Eden Ben Basat scored Brest's winner with a curling shot into the bottom corner.
Forward Brice Jovial scored twice for Dijon and set up the other for winger Benjamin Corgnet.
Yannick Sagbo grabbed a late consolation for Evian.
Striker Dennis Oliech gave Auxerre an early lead after being set up by Anthony Le Tallec, but the match changed after Le Tallec was shown a straight red card for a lunging tackle on Mehdi Mostefa in the 22nd.
Last-place Ajaccio made the most of the extra man, with striker Eduardo and center half Fousseni Diawara putting the Corsican side 2-1 ahead. But Ajaccio's Samuel Bouhours and defender Arnaud Maire were sent off in quick succession.
