Against Manchester City, PSG did not team up

For Paris-Saint-Germain, the evening in Manchester started with a hailstorm and ended with a cold shower. He is starting to get used to it, but PSG has again postponed its plans for victory in the Champions League to next season, dominated at the Parc des Princes in the first leg (1-2) as well as in the return by Manchester City (0- 2) this Tuesday, May 4 in the semi-final.

Read also Manchester City-PSG: beaten and dominated by the English, Paris eliminated from the Champions League

“We’ll try again while we’re here”, promised, the elimination still fresh, the Parisian midfielder Marco Verratti at the microphone of RMC Sport. Yes, the Parisians have tried but the “on” used by the Italian is misleading.

PSG remains a sum of individuals who are probably appreciated, enjoys coffee in the morning while respecting barrier gestures, takes news of the youngest, but does not always form a team on the ground. At least, if we understand it as a homogeneous and coherent collective force, all that is the Manchester City of Pep Guardiola which defends en bloc and attacks with the coordination of the patrol of France.

Neymar at the front, but all alone

With their game plan defined and this way of reciting their lessons, the Citizens have a side “good student” which contrasts with the ways of graduating the last row of a PSG, like a Neymar declaring himself ready before the match on the official website of the club to put on the military fatigues “To go into battle with the team”. Problem, the Brazilian went to the front, but alone. Always in delicacy with his calf, Kylian Mbappé did not leave the stand of the Etihad Stadium and his big parka.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also The incredible fate of Kylian Mbappé in “Le Monde”

Deprived of the speed of its world champion, PSG becomes predictable and Neymar irritating. The playmaker has done everything and badly. He forced his dribbles, forgot an obvious gap for Mauro Icardi – dressed, it is true, in his invisibility cloak – and suffered the comparison with the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, perfect City regulator including his former coach in the national team, Marc Wilmots once said, without exaggerating too much, that he was “ the best collective player of all time ”.

But could De Bruyne exist in a team whose game plan remains an enigma? If Mauricio Pochettino arrived in Paris at the end of December 2020, just after the departure log of Thomas Tuchel, the Argentine coach has not changed anything in the background.

Read also Paris-Saint-Germain formalizes the dismissal of its trainer Thomas Tuchel

Yes, her team eliminated FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, showed a certain personality in sequences, but she still does not know which football to devote to. Feared for its names and its individualities, it remains a football object that is difficult to identify.

You have 65.86% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here