The Earth almost shook in the wings of the Parc des Princes on Tuesday evening. Indeed, PSG hosted Newcastle as part of the 5th day of Group F of the Champions League. Motivated by the idea of taking their revenge after the rout of the first leg at St James Park (4-1), the Parisians needed a more than generous penalty in the 98th minute to snatch a draw (1- 1) after countless missed opportunities. And as during the first duel in England, the Spanish coach, Luis Enrique, put together a starting eleven which questioned more than one observer this evening, journalists and supporters included. As a reminder, the former La Roja coach arrived on the English pitch with an ultra-offensive 4-2-4, deliberately playing off the balance, with a starting quartet made up of Kylian Mbappé, Gonçalo Ramos, Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembélé. A recipe which quickly plunged Paris into fog by being led 3-0 in the 50th minute.
“The tactical design makes sense but no team in the world plays 4-2-4, 3-5-2 because it changes depending on where the ball is. For us, at the start of the build-up, we play in 4-3-3, when we approach the transmission phase at the halfway line, we are in 3-4-3 and when we arrive at the conclusion phase, it is another provision. Our position changes depending on our position, with or without the ball it’s the same thing. It also depends on where our opponent is. Tomorrow, we will play in an attacking 4-3-3”, Luis Enrique explained Monday afternoon at a press conference, organized at the Poissy training center. But this Tuesday evening, several decisions of the native of Gijon once again raised questions, what’s more in such an important meeting in which PSG was at stake for its qualification or its survival in group F. A Parisian victory coupled with another result that a Milan success in Dortmund would have been enough to validate the ticket for the round of 16. Nay!
No Vitinha, an almost unprecedented hinge
With injuries to Presnel Kimpembe and Marquinhos in defense, Luis Enrique was forced to field a central hinge made up of Danilo Pereira and Milan Skriniar. A duo far from flamboyant who had already been heavily criticized when they shared the Parisian defense in Ligue 1, against OGC Nice. A meeting concluded with a heavy setback for the Parisians (2-3) at home. Apart from a central defense, not used to playing together, this central pair does not display the best complementarities. Rather heavy and slow, capable of making mistakes on the restart, they had great difficulty countering Newcastle’s attack, particularly on the opening score. An action during which Skriniar and Danilo showed great passivity on the breakthrough of Tino Livramento. But also to cover the scorer Alexander Isak, who had plenty of time to stand out after Gianluigi Donnarumma’s handball: “It’s my chance to have a very large squad. We played with Danilo because he is good with the ball, we wanted to dominate the opponent, that’s what was important for us. In this group, even if we lost, we could still move on to Dortmund. We are still masters of our destiny in this competition”, analyzed the Spanish coach in a press conference after the match. No regrets for the Spaniard therefore.
Another point which raises serious questions: the tenure of Kang-in Lee. The South Korean showed great efficiency in his starts in the league or his good debuts in Ligue 1, notably against AC Milan at the Parc des Princes. However, in the absence of Warren Zaire-Emery, it remains rather curious to see Luis Enrique do without the Portuguese midfielder, Vitinha, who continues to take responsibility correctly, to the point of becoming the leader of the midfielder since the departure of Marco Verratti for Qatar: “We had a good match, we created a lot of chances, but the ball didn’t want to go in. This goal serves us to be dependent on our fate in Dortmund. It will be difficult in Dortmund, but we have confidence in ourselves., explained Fabian Ruiz, also starting alongside Manuel Ugarte and Kang-in Lee. And even during the meeting, the late entry of Gonçalo Ramos (85th) can be called into question, while PSG struggled to shake the net, authors of only 7 shots on target out of 31 attempts…
