Paris Saint-Germain was under pressure this Sunday evening at 8:45 p.m. Expected from Rennes, the capital club had to achieve a result in Brittany. First of all to stay in touch with the Monegasque leader in the ranking. Then, to make up for it after the Newcastle fiasco (1-4). For this match, Luis Enrique had also chosen not to renew the much criticized 4-2-4 and to return to a usual 4-3-3, with Gonçalo Ramos at the forefront, assisted by Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé on the coast.
Preferred to Randal Kolo Muani (ghostly at St James’ Park) up front, Ramos had the opportunity to distinguish himself. The Portuguese was also the only one of the three attackers to be mobile, while the Mbappé-Dembélé duo appeared too static and not really concerned with the defensive withdrawal. A bit like Edinson Cavani at the time, Ramos gave himself without counting, but often faltered technically. Which did not prevent the Rouge et Bleu from leading 2-0 at half-time, thanks to goals from Vitinha (32nd) and Achraf Hakimi (36th).
Kolo Muani responds to Ramos
In his match, the former Benfiquista could have driven home the point with an excellent delivery from Mbappé (55th). Unfortunately, the Lusitanian striker will, in the process, lose a ball which will lead to the reduction of the score by Amine Gouiri (56th). A few seconds later, Luis Enrique decided to take him out to replace him with Kolo Muani. An event which has nothing to do with this error according to the Spanish coach.
“How can I take a player out because of a mistake? All players miss. And with the attackers that I have, I wanted to give opportunities to everyone”he told Free. But his choice was judicious since the former Nantes player gave his team a two-goal lead a few moments after coming into play (58th). Four minutes later, he even thought of scoring a double, but his passer, Mbappé, was flagged offside (62nd).
Finally, RKM combined much better technically with his wing partners when Ramos showed certain limits. Authors of two goals each for PSG since the start of the season, the two attackers should finally enter into direct competition with the return of the 4-3-3. Luis Enrique seems to have understood that his 4-2-4 exposes his team too much and makes some of his players play in inappropriate positions. This was the case for Kolo Muani at Newcastle (exiled on the left side). Let the match begin!
