PSG-Champions-League

Dropping two points at home to a side in 10th position is usually a bad result for a title contender. However, while Paris Saint-Germain fans will certainly not have been too enamoured by their side’s 2-2 draw with Bordeaux at the Parc des Princes on Friday night, the scoreline will almost certainly make no difference to their domestic aspirations this term.

Bordeaux, a side who won the league in 2009 and finished sixth last year, are certainly no pushovers, yet PSG were widely expected to secure their fifth victory in five games so far this season. Had they done so, they would have equalled the Ligue 1 record of 14 consecutive wins that Bordeaux themselves set in the 2008-09 campaign, when they were managed by current PSG boss Laurent Blanc.

Despite Friday’s setback, the situation in France’s top flight means that PSG need not be unduly worried. Marcelo Bielsa’s Marseille came flying out of the traps this time 12 months ago, establishing a seven-point lead over the capital club by mid-October. Hubert Fournier’s Lyon, too, punched above their weight, Les Gones going into the final few weeks of the season still with a chance of being crowned champions.

The early signs this time around, however, suggest that a three-way battle lasting for much of the campaign was an aberration that is unlikely to be repeated. PSG spent £77 million on four new additions in the summer, Angel di Maria, Kevin Trapp, Benjamin Stambouli and Layvin Kurzawa joining a team that has won the last three league championships. Since Qatar Sports Investments took over the club in 2011, PSG have spent a total of almost £400 million on new players.

Blanc’s side started the game brightly on Friday evening under the floodlights, moving the ball quickly and penning Bordeaux back inside their own half. They were good value for the lead that was given to them through Edinson Cavani after an error from Cedric Carrasso, although the visitors rallied well and equalised almost immediately when PSG keeper Kevin Trapp inadvertently palmed Henri Saivet’s flicked header into the net.

It did not take long for Cavani to fire his side 2-1 in front, however, the Uruguayan expertly dispatching a free-kick to restore PSG’s lead. Di Maria should have given the hosts a two-goal cushion just before the interval, but he shot straight at Carrasso when put through one-on-one.

PSG continued to dominate at the start of the second half, but Bordeaux rallied and enjoyed a good spell where they could easily have grabbed an equaliser. The chance to level the scores seemed to have been denied to them when Saivet was sent off, but another dreadful mistake from Trapp late on allowed Wahbi Khazri to steal in and ensure Bordeaux left the Parc des Princes with a point.

While Blanc and the club’s fans would evidently have been disappointed with the outcome, everyone associated with PSG knows that the Champions League is their biggest challenge this season. Indeed, the question is not really who will lift the 2015/16 Ligue 1 title, but how early PSG will wrap it up.

Having reached the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier continental club competition in each of the last three campaigns, PSG will be looking to go one better by reaching the last four this time around. It remains to be seen whether the relative lack of competition domestically will help or hinder that ambition.

About the Author – Greg Lea

Freelance football writer. Work published by FourFourTwo, The Guardian, World Soccer, Goal, The National, Squawka, Eurosport, The Blizzard + others.

Twitter @GregLeaFootball

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The-regeneration-of-Ligue-1

Champions League fanatics will remember the times when Olympique Lyonnais became a main stay of the latter stages of the knockout rounds. A team filled with household names, a young Karim Benzema introducing himself to the world, Lisandro Lopez turning in performances that would endear him to Lyon fans forever and finally the mercurial Juninho scoring magnificent free kicks with his pioneering knuckleball technique. Some years earlier Olympique Marseille had won the first ever Champions League, defeating AC Milan with the likes of Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Rudi Voller gracing the Stade Velodrome. Marseille remain the only French team to ever win the Champions League and Lyon the only team to create any sort of legacy in Europe until the arrival of money bags Paris St Germain and Monaco.

But over a timeline spanning 18 months, French football has gone under it’s very own renaissance. Already well known for impressive scouting networks, player development and youth tournaments the French went back to their roots in an effort to bring success, as well as recognition, back to Ligue 1. Whilst the newly enriched and revered Bundesliga was winning the hearts of hipsters across Europe with it’s fan owned, fast and furious football, Ligue 1 teams undertook a mission to resuscitate the league.

The lower reaches of Ligue 1 has since become populated with young players who have graduated from the academy of their clubs , and those who have been bought in at a young age with the ideal being that they are sold for profit a short time later. Anthony Martial would be the prime example, bought in for €3,6m and sold 18 months later for €36m to Manchester United. Low risk, big profit with a lot of banking on potential that could disappear in a heart beat. But the game plan is, slowly but surely, working – especially for the clubs whose revenue streams allow for a series of cheap transfers in one period.

At the close of the Premier League transfer window Ligue 1 had banked £200m from player sales, with the majority of players going to clubs that hover around mid-table. To put this into context, over the previous six years Ligue 1 had sold for a combined total of £400m. Aston Villa have been the biggest advocate of the French market, bringing in a total of 4 players at a combined cost of £34m. Overall, there have been 18 new arrivals from France this summer alone.

Despite their vast amount of riches, Monaco have been incredibly shrewd with their transfer business over the past three years and despite the big name arrivals of Falcao and James Rodriguez stealing the limelight,  it is the smaller transfers that have proved to be the most beneficial. The big names achieved Champions League qualification, with the profit from their sales and increased revenue meaning that a stream of youngsters flocked to the Stade Louis II. Since then, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Layvin Kurzawa, Anthony Martial and Geoffrey Kondogbia have been sold for a massive profit to clubs in Spain, England and Italy. The club have also made a name for themselves as tough negotiators over the course of this summer in a big to make themselves self-sustainable.

As clubs from the lower reaches of Ligue 1 turn themselves into profitable businesses through player sales, the onus is on them to resinvest the money wisely. Especially in the case of Moanco, Lyon, Nantes and Lille whose bank accounts have been swollen by Premier League TV money, Indonesian investment from Italy and Qatari Euros from Paris. Should they reinvest this money as wisely as they have in the first instance, then it will not be long before another French team finds themselves as a mainstay of latter stage Champions League football like Paris St Germain currently are, and Monaco destined to become.

About the Author – Ben Jarman

Freelance football writer with a penchant for Spanish and European football. Work published by Fulham FC, Italian FA and the Evening Standard.

Twitter: @sonikkicks

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Lucas-Moura-v-Lille
At half-time, with the score at 0-0 in PSG’s Ligue 1 opener against Lille, Lucas Moura remained extremely confident his side could still run out victors, despite the fact Laurent Blanc’s charges were down to 10 men courtesy of Adrien Rabiot’s sending off on 28 minutes.

“PSG will win the game with 10,” proclaimed the Brazilian.

He was right, backing up his half-time comments emphatically as PSG went on to win 1-0 thanks to his outstanding goal.

Lucas’ strike was significant for both himself and the team, for it signaled his first league goal since January, plus it also propelled PSG to their first win away from home on the opening matchday in 19 years. It took one of the finest team goals you’re likely to witness to break the curse, but doing it in the faceof such adversity certainly made it all the more special.

“It’s my characteristics to run with the ball at my feet and make the difference. I’m very happy I scored and we won 3 points,” he said after
the match.

Starting the contest as PSG’s left winger, Lucas’ intelligent movement and positioning allowed him to thrive throughout. His clever, subtle variations proved too much for Lille to handle, with his ability to identify space, even in the smallest pockets, being a key feature of his work.

While the former Sao Paulo starlet also enjoyed plenty of success when hugging the touchline, where upon obtaining possession he could then isolate himself in 1v1 scenarios with Lille’s inexperienced, 19-year-old fullback Benjamin Pavard, his genius when opting to drift infield was without question the avenue that bore the most fruit for him.

Lucas was always scanning for openings. Whether looking to exploit the half spaces in between Pavard and Renato Civelli (Lille’s right back and right sided centre back), Civelli and Ibrahim Amadou (Lille’s two centre backs) or in and around Les Dogues’ holding midfield pairing of Rio Mavuba
and Florent Balmont, the electric attacker’s movement wreaked so much havoc for the opposition.

His infield forays also effectively made space for his fullback, Maxwell, to surge into, which in turn forced Pavard to mark Maxwell, thus successfully dragging Lucas’ direct opponent away from him. This inherently meant Lucas had the required freedom to roam into central areas, often unimpeded, and make a nuisance of himself.

Once in possession, the 22-year-old called on his wicked technical ability to turn sharply and run at his adversaries. Due to his smart work to get into central areas, when he received the ball the field was open for him to do whatever he pleased. And he did just that. On top of embarking on some sublime dribbles, he linked up beautifully in tight spaces and distributed the ball astutely into the wide areas where there were always
plentiful options.

Blanc chose to deploy Lucas on the right wing for the second half, and although last season’s league champions were largely forced to play on the counter due to Lille having the numerical supremacy, the winger who wears the number seven still influenced the contest heavily by using the aforementioned modes of operation.

It came as little surprise, then, that the away side’s decisive goal was instigated by Lucas’ buzzing movement.

Here, after sneaking into the space to the right of Mavuba, Thiago Motta had the awareness to hit him up. Lucas then turned away sharply from Mavuba and subsequently found Edinson Cavani, who played a neat one touch pass to Blaise Matuidi. Noticing Lucas had continued his run forward, Matuidi slid an inch-perfect first time ball right through the heart of the defence and into Lucas’ path. Still with plenty of work to do, the man capped 31 times for his country masterfully rounded the formidable Vincent Enyeama to coolly finish. It was a sequence so brilliant that it will surely be a goal of the season contender. Lucas’ quality was stamped all over it, his tremendous capabilities shown off magnificently.

To add a futher layer of variety, on the odd occasion the bearded Lucas would push upfield alongside Cavani into positions that resembled that of a traditional centre forward. He’d hover around laterally in these situations, while his defenders and midfielders cycled possession. But once he saw Thiago Silva acquire possession, he was off, knowing his countrymen would look to ping a long ball over the top for him to latch onto, thereby catching the Lille backline off guard and potentially getting into a scoring position.

Although no goals eventuated from the tactic, it was nonetheless an unpredictable and very promising strategy that caught out the Lille backline many times. It made perfect sense, for if Lucas did latch onto the ball, his speed would’ve made him an uncatchable proposition.

All things considered, Lucas’ man of the match performance gave a distinct indication as to just why the club were willing to shell out a staggering €45 million to acquire his services back in 2012, with his capacity to change a game in an instant illustrating what an indispensable player he can be on his day. And that’s the povital caveat with him, on his day he’s unplayable, but finding consistency has been a struggle for him since moving to the French capital.

In fairness to the Brazilian, injuries, adjusting to life in a colder climate and becoming accustomed to a different tactical approach have all combined to play a role in him being unable to persistently perform at his best.

“The most difficult in the beginning was the cold,” he explained. “I arrived in France in the middle of winter and that year it snowed a lot.

“In Brazil, we’re not used to it. When I arrived, it was minus seven degrees. So I played and trained in gloves and two pairs of pants – which is tough to move in!

“The tactical side of the game is also part of the difficulty here because the system is very different to Brazil. Every movement must be perfect, which we’re not used to.”

Last season proved a breakthrough, though, where his encouraging displays demonstrated he might be on the cusp of completely turning the corner and fulfilling his undoubted potential to become a bonafide superstar.

Now adapted to life in Paris and having overcome some major setbacks, which also included him missing the 2014 World Cup as a result of poor form and the 2015 Copa America due to injury, the upcoming campaign looms as a hugely important stage in his career at PSG.

Signing a new contract until 2019 underlined his determination to succeed at the European powerhouse. If his magnificent start to the new season is
anything to go by, there’s no reason to suggest he can’t do just that and evolve into a truly world-class player.

It’s now time for Lucas to seize his opportunity and deliver.

About the author:

Edward Stratmann writes regularly about the on-field aspects of the game, with a particular focus on tactics and analysis. In addition to featuring on These Football Times, Inside Spanish Football, Anfield Index, Just Football, The Eagles Beak, Think Football Ideas and JuveFC, you can also find Edward’s work at Licence to Roam, a football blog he started with his brother in 2013.

@licencetoroam

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