As a matter of fact, and for many reasons, PSG will be a test.
First, because they will try to hurt us as in England, only City and ‘Pool were dead set on doing when traveling to London, in the latter seasons. Maybe even more so, since we have to keep in mind that they know, the journalists know, the fans know that at ” home ” they’ll win the double, again, this season. As a consequence of which, their season’s real assessment is based on CL performances only.
To tell you how true this is, their home win (I repeat: their win!) against Girona ten days ago almost triggered the start of a crisis, because their display had been so poor. For them, and all the usual observers of French football – starting with the ” L’Équipe guys ” for whom the flat EEG of French football is a nightmare, they love nothing more than a PSG crisis – even a draw will be deemed unacceptable. Which is why they won’t bother much about us, and will play on their strengths, the main of which being … their midfield.
Now that Mbappé is gone, that Ramos is injured, and since Enrique doesn’t rate Kolo-Muani, there’s a fair chance they will play with a ” false 9 “, which they’ve done for the last 3 or 4 games, with Asensio ” upfront “. But he might not be back from injury, which means their 3-man midfield will be Zaïre-Emery/Neves/Vitinha, while the fourth man is very likely to be Ruiz. Whether it be Asensio or Ruiz anyway, well … this is a technically very, very strong engine room, all the more so since they’ve been Enrique-drilled for a year now, and we all know how obsessed he is with not giving the ball away foolishly.
So much so that, as far as possession is concerned, I don’t think we will get the better of them, which we shouldn’t have too many bad dreams about, since the latest version of Mikel’s Arsenal has been so impressive defensively. But … there’s giving up possession and there’s giving up possession, isn’t there? It would be suicidal to let them enjoy 70% or more of it, which is why (back to square one) either Leandro, or Kai, has to go, imo, so we can field a third man in midfield by Declan and Thomas’s side. My pick would be – however impressive Ethan’s cameo may have been yesterday – Jorginho, so as to play Declan in a (much) more advanced position.
As for our CF I’d go with Leandro who is an incredibly smart, streetwise forward, our one and only cold-blooded assassin in the box too … but I think it’s ” Smudge ” Kai who will get the nod, and that’s fine with me as well, even though I think he’s not at his best right now … but he has that mean streak which allows him never to have a 100% ” off ” day.
Whether this is the kind of lineup Mikel has in mind or not (I’m not sure about this at all, I think he might decide to keep on with the Leandro-Kai pair), our guy upfront will get opportunities, since their ” weakness ” (if I could use a dozen inverted commas there, I would) certainly is their central defense. Marquinhos has been on the wane for a few seasons already, but will play (and skip them), while the new boy Pacho looks good, but is finding his feet at the moment. Lucas Hernandez’s absence is a terrible blow to them, imo, but I’m biased here. I think Lucas is one of the very best French defenders … ever. I keep thinking he’s the unsung hero of the 2018 WC, when he was our best player – not Pogba, not Lloris, Not Mbappé, not Kanté, not Griezmann … Lucas! (I can’t bear the recollections of Anfield ’89 leaving Kevin Richardson out of the praise either, but that’s another story of course).
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Tuesday’s game will be a war of the Titans … on the wings. I agree with all you have said, TA, in your previous post about Marti, Bukayo, Jurrien, and 2024 Maldini, but the four of them will be put to the test Tuesday night. The Saka-Mendes showdown will be a game within the game. The whole point will be which one will turn the other into a defender. If Bukayo does so, and keeps Mendes on the back foot, he’ll have won a decisive victory for the whole team, given how dangerous the Portuguese is when he can turn into a winger. Upfront, on the left, there will be Barcola, who is the brand new French wonderkid. He’s a free-spirit, Bradley, constantly inventing, improvising, you never know whether he’ll choose to go wide and look for an assist, or dart inside and try to get his name on the scoresheet; he will be Jurrien’s first very significant test.
The same could be said of the other wing, and I don’t see how Riccardo could do anything but focus on defending. I don’t know how much you know of Dembelé, guys, but believe me he’s a true wizard, a dribbling magician. Of course once he has dribbled past his defender, he often looks like a barking dog having finally caught the car he was chasing … and who doesn’t know what to with it, but he has improved his scoring output lately, so our legionary will have to stand his ground, put Ousmane under constant pressure. Lastly, there’s the Hakimi-Martinelli duel: Gab has picked the perfect moment to get his form back, hasn’t he? I think he can prevail, disturb Hakimi with his futsal style of dribbles, as well as thwart him when the Moroccan wanders upfront.
So … a classic you never know, of course, but I’d be very disappointed if we were no treated to a true CL night, round-of-8 level at least …
Serious plot twist(s) about tomorrow’s game – what’ll take place on our left flank in particular.
What’s sure is that Dembelé won’t play. He’s rumoured to have had a “heated” (understatement) argument with Enrique after the Rennes game. Looks like the Spaniard didn’t like it one bit, so much so that Ousmane won’t even make the trip to London.
His usual backup is the Korean Lee Kang-in, a muscular, fast, hard-working left-footed RW, who’s the perfect, relentless team player, but is not at Ousmane’s level …
More worrying are the news about Calafiori, who’s said to have been seriously (??) injured in stoppage time against Leicester. Let’s hope this is clickbait nonsense, otherwise Myles Lewis-Skelly, in the absences of Ben-Kieran-Oleksander-Tomi … is very likely to be given the first start in CL of his so-promising young career. The lad would have to rein in his attacking instincts, though, otherwise Lee might wreak havoc in the open space in our back line …
I do hope the Riccardo rumours will turn out to be nothing at all – the importance he has taken in our setup, in so little time, is nothing short of mind-blowing.
By argallh
COYG
Bergkampesque 