Paris Saint-Germain are no longer pretenders to the crown.
By Sam McGuire
For years, they were labelled as one of the best teams in the world. This wasn’t ever really true. They may have had some of the best players in the world, but they didn’t operate as a team. They had too many egos to massage with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar all vying to be the King of Paris.
They’d attack as a team but would they defend as a team? Absolutely not.
Even after Messi and Neymar left, it felt like Mbappé plus 10 others on the pitch. They reached the Champions League semi-finals last season but, objectively speaking, weren’t great. They finished second in their group on eight points having won just two of their six matches. They only qualified for the knockout stage due to having a superior head-to-head goal difference against AC Milan.
They beat Real Sociedad in the round-of-16 and then lost the first-leg of their quarter-final clash 3-2 to Barcelona, at home. They did hammer Barca at the Camp Nou, 4-1, after an early red card to Ronald Araújo.
PSG then lost 2-0 on aggregate to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final.
Given their spend over the years and the squad at their disposal, performances should’ve been better in European competition, right?
Domestically, they dominated last season.
They finished nine points clear of Monaco to win Ligue 1 and also beat Lyon in the final of the Coupe De France.
Mbappé finally departed in the summer, leaving for Real Madrid on a free transfer. PSG didn’t go big in the market to replace their poster boy. The highly-rated Désiré Doué joined from Rennes for €50million to bolster their attacking options. Other areas of the team were strengthened but it was sensible business rather than moves you’d associate with FIFA Ultimate Team.
Their Champions League campaign didn’t get off to the best of starts this season – they lost to Arsenal, Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich. They also drew with PSV. However, three successive wins helped them make it to the play-offs. This included a 4-2 victory over Manchester City having been 2-0 down. They then destroyed Brest in the play-off game, racking up an aggregate 10-0 win.
They head into their game against Liverpool on a 10-match winning streak. In fact, they’re unbeaten since their 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich in November.
During this winning run, Luis Enrique’s side have scored 40 goals and conceded just seven. Ousmane Dembélé is in the form of his career. He’s currently the leading scorer in Ligue 1 with 18.
PSG dominate the FotMob average player ratings too with Achraf Hakimi, Dembélé and João Neves making up the top three this term across Ligue 1.
Bradley Barcola has found his feet too, despite there being some concerns over his role within the squad following the arrival of Doué, and has 12 league goals to his name. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a threat. The Georgian international joined from Napoli in January and has seamlessly slotted in to Enrique’s XI.
Doué is chipping in with goals and assists now and was the star of the show in the recent 4-1 win over Lille.
After that particular game, the manager added fuel to the fire, saying: “We’re not going to change much, today was a test, Liverpool and Lille have similar things, we put them under such pressure that they could no longer play from the back, they had to play long.
“It will be different, it will be very complicated of course, but we are in the best period of the season. We will play against the best team in Europe, qualified brilliantly, but it is not in our mentality to speculate, protect ourselves, stay defensive, we will attack and we will try to turn that in our favour.”
“I know Liverpool very well, without a doubt they are the team in the best form in Europe both in terms of results and play. It could have been a Champions League final, we’re going to try to do it with our weapons.”
Things are now just well balanced. Enrique has a team rather than a collection of players. And it is pretty evident when looking at the stats too.
They top Ligue 1 for goals scored, averaging 2.9 goals per 90. They have the highest xG – 63.9 (66 goals). They’ve carved out 131 big chances – the only team in France to be in triple digits. They’re robust defensively too, conceding 23 goals from an xG Against of 23.2.
In Europe, their record is alright too. They have the fourth highest xG and rank second for big chances created with 48. The games against Brest boosted these numbers but their output is still impressive when you consider they faced off against Arsenal, Atlético, Bayern and Manchester City.
PSG look well equipped. They have a fluid front three with a Plan B option in Gonçalo Ramos if needed. They can stack their midfield in a variety of different ways to either dominate the ball or dominate space. Defensively, they look fairly solid these days with Lucas Beraldo and Willian Pacho rotating alongside Marquinhos. Nuno Mendes is back at left-back and Hakimi is owning the right-flank.
This is no longer a FIFA Ultimate Team XI. This is a proper team with multiple ways to win a match. And that is why they’re a concern. PSG of yesteryear wouldn’t have worried me at all. Arne Slot’s ruthless Reds would’ve done a professional job on them. This iteration, however, could be more of a problem for the Premier League leaders.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every PSG on FotMob – with in-depth stat coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.