Le Havre, Al Nassr, Osaka and Inter Milan. Lots of diversity in the program of friendlies for Paris Saint-Germain this summer. And it started this Friday with the promoted from Le Havre, at the new training center in Poissy. The opportunity to see the first version of the PSG version Luis Enrique. A PSG positioned in 4-3-3 with a low midfielder, embodied by rookie Manuel Ugarte.
Before talking more in depth about the men, and more particularly the new ones, we were able to identify some basic principles, with in particular the triggering of immediate pressing when the ball is lost, to several players. Nothing revolutionary, but rather well applied by the Parisian players during the meeting. On the wings, Lee Kang-In, positioned on the right, was more inside than Gharbi, installed on the left. We also felt the desire to keep possession as much as possible, with a multiplication of passes, often without taking much risk.
Kang-In Lee seductive, Ugarte disturbing
On the player side, Luis Enrique proposed a different eleven for each period. The first will clearly have been to the advantage of Lee Kang-In, incisive in his catches of the ball, carried forward and technically interesting. Less to that of Manuel Ugarte, author of gross faults, approximate controls and minimal risk taking. Comparatively, Ethan Mbappé was much more interesting in the same position in the second half.
Offensively, the first period turned out to be rather poor, apart from the flashes of Lee and the dribbling, sometimes too much, of Gharbi. Marco Asensio, positioned in number 9, did not really have ammunition, but he did not exploit an error by the opposing goalkeeper to score. Ekitike, who succeeded him in the second period, had the merit of opening the scoring. Defensively, PSG scared off a few concentration jumps (Letellier and Skriniar in particular after the break), and depth management remains a problem for the moment. Nothing to be alarmed either, since Le Havre turned out to be very timorous offensively, always in search of their future 9.
Luis Enrique lived this friendly match with passion, as evidenced by his many gesticulations. The tactical scheme changed slightly in the second period, between 4-3-3 and 3-5-2. The consequence of the entry of Kylian Mbappé, to bring him closer to Ekitike? The French international, who returned later than the majority of his summer break partners, was entitled to half an hour of play and showed himself to be involved with his teammates, sometimes guiding them with his hand, as well as a scorer at the end of the match. The opportunity to also note the good start to the break of Cher Ndour, whose impressive physique does not prevent him from developing a large volume of play. We will wait for the next match against Al Nassr to see a deeper trace of the leg Luis Enrique.
Relive the film of the match
