Paris Saint-Germain: 2013/14 Season Review

The 2013-14 Ligue 1 season will go down as one of the best in Paris Saint-Germain’s relatively short history. For the first time in the capital club’s 43-year existence, les Parisiens defended their title and also secured a maiden league and domestic cup double thanks to Laurent Blanc’s men also winning the Coupe de la Ligue.

Plenty was made of PSG’s UEFA Champions League exit – a second consecutive quarterfinal defeat on away goals – but another last eight finish represents consistency. Coupled with clear domestic improvement on Carlo Ancelotti’s reign, Blanc has fared extremely well in his first season in charge and thoroughly deserves the recent contract extension that he penned after the club’s fourth ever title was confirmed.

A Coupe de France defeat at home to Montpellier in the round of 32 is one blemish on an otherwise pristine copybook, although some would argue that only registering one victory in four games against Monaco and Lille – the two other members of Ligue 1’s top three – demonstrates that PSG’s dominance this season is slightly deceiving. However, Les Parisiens did not lose any of those other three encounters and few would argue that their success was not totally deserved.

It has been a campaign of record-breaking proportions for the capital outfit, with a new all-time best points total of 89 set for Le Championnat. PSG also bettered the benchmark of 25 victories in a single campaign, previously held jointly by PSG, Reims, Nantes and Monaco, with a total of 27.

Overall, it could not have gone much better for Blanc and his players in his debut campaign. The danger now for Le President is that he has set the bar too high ahead of next season and equalling PSG’s achievements in the face of greater domestic and European competition – let alone bettering them – will prove extremely difficult.

The player that made the difference

After enjoying the best season of his career, only Zlatan Ibrahimovic can really be considered for this award. However, before waxing lyrical on the talismanic Swede’s superlative performances, his teammate Thiago Motta deserves a special mention.

The Italian international has been a revelation in midfield for the champions, excelling in his deep-lying role and benefitting from a rare injury-free season to be an almost ever-present name on Blanc’s team sheet. His consistent high quality performances were one of the key reasons why PSG were able to switch to a more fluent, possession-based 4-3-3 formation early in the campaign.

But despite Motta’s renaissance, it has been Ibrahimovic’s season.

The 32-year-old scored 26 times and provided 11 assists in the league alone, with his European contributions taking his overall total to 41 goals in all competitions. By March he had broken Carlos Bianchi’s club record of 39 goals in a single campaign – a record that had stood since 1977-78 – and his goal on the final day against Montpellier eclipsed another of the Argentine’s achievements by becoming the first player to score more than 25 league goals in consecutive seasons since Bianchi in 1977-78 (37) and 1978-79 (27).

On top of that, Ibrahimovic defended his UNFP player of the year title and bagged the goal of the year award – for his scorpion flick effort against SC Bastia – as well as being named in the Ligue 1 team of the year for a second consecutive time.

Stand out game of the season

There is a case for the 4-0 home win over Bastia – featuring Zlatan’s award-winning goal – being crowned the key match as the result moved PSG top, a position that Blanc’s men would not relinquish for the rest of the season. However, a 2-0 away win over Girondins de Bordeaux in early September was actually the pivotal moment.

After a slow start to the season, with PSG looking disjointed at times, Le President tried playing in a 4-3-3 for the first time at the Stade Chaban-Delmas and the result was a far more fluent style of football. From then on, the three-man midfield became integral to Blanc’s success in the French capital and Motta, Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti have become one of Europe’s strongest midfield units.

From that moment on, it took just four more games to overhaul early pacesetters Monaco at the top of the table and PSG hit top spot following that win over Bastia in October. From there, Les Parisiens never loosened their grip on the trophy.

Where can they improve this summer?

Although this PSG team is almost complete – certainly as far as Ligue 1 is concerned – there are a number of positions that could use greater strength in depth. As was the case in Europe, Blanc was occasionally guilty of not being flexible enough in how he lined the team up domestically. This is largely because there is a lack of variety in certain areas, most notably in terms of a midfield creator.

Questions have been asked of Ezequiel Lavezzi’s overall contribution on the left side of the front three – despite a sparkling start to 2014 – and Lucas Moura has failed to totally convince Blanc of his abilities, despite scoring five goals and laying on a further 10 this season. Edinson Cavani has also largely been played wide on the right and, because of that, PSG have not always been as efficient going forward as they perhaps should have been.

Elsewhere, the capital club have already strengthened in central defence with the arrival of Chelsea’s David Luiz, although this could also mean that talented young Brazilian defender Marquinhos is now forced out. If that is the case, then further defensive options will be needed with only the veteran Zoumana Camara left as cover.

There is also a greater need for depth up top – particularly if Blanc continues to play with a front pair as he did towards the end of the season – and a new right-back will be another priority. Gregory van der Wiel enjoyed an excellent campaign until injury put paid to his Champions League participation and his World Cup hopes, while Christophe Jallet has not been good enough for some time.

UEFA’s financial fair play sanctions will make it more difficult for PSG to strengthen in all the ways that they would like, but the Ligue 1 champions appear unfazed by the economic challenges put in their path by Europe’s governing body.

One thing you can guarantee, as always, is that it will not be a quiet summer at the Parc des Princes.