Table of content

The goals scored

The line ups

Bordeaux’s tactics

Paris Saint-Germain tactics

Draxler’s new position

Malcom’s isolation

My Grades

Last Saturday (30/08) Paris faced the team of Bordeaux that still remained unbeaten in Ligue 1. Presented as one of the most important game of the week end, the opposition quickly became dominated by the PSG as they were leading 3-0 after only 21 minutes. Unable to correct their mistakes, Bordeaux continued to suffer and the game ended with a final score of 6-2.

The goals scored:

PSG: 6

2 x Neymar: 5’ Amazing free kick (28 metres), 40’ Penalty

1 x Cavani: 12’ Cheeky finish + assist by Neymar

1 x Meunier: 21’ Nice shot in the box + assist from Youri and Mbappe misses the ball

1 x Draxler: 45’ He gets the ball back runs 40 metres with a one two with Mbappe and finishes with a magnificent shot

1 x Mbappe: 58’ Calm finish + assist by Draxler who get the ball back first

Bordeaux: 2

1 x Sankharé: 31’ Easy finish + assist by De Preville who faces Areola

1 x Malcom: 90’ Penalty

The line ups

Paris Saint-Germain

With Kurzawa (curiously) out of the group, Thiago Silva with Dani Alves on the bench and Thiago Motta suffering from a knee injury, Unai Emery introduced a 4-3-3 that was first announced as a 4-2-3-1 with Draxler as an offensive midfielder. In fact, the 47 000 spectators of the Parc des Princes immediately saw that Draxler played (for the first time) as a central midfielder. Logically, Rabiot occupied the lower apex of the midfield triangle (defensive midfielder) to insure an effective recuperation.

Bordeaux

It is also in a 4-3-3 that they’ve learnt to master throughout the beginning of the season (used 7 times in 7 games) that Bordeaux came to Paris. There was no surprise in the line-up as Gourvennec used the same team against Toulouse one week before.

Bordeaux’s tactics

Main objective

Bordeaux’s aim was quite simple in this game: wait in its own 50 metres by positioning themselves in a 4-5-1 with Malcom and Kamano (the wingers) on the same line as the central midfielders. De Preville, in front, had the impossible mission to put pressure on the two centre backs to slow the ball’s movement. When Bordeaux gets the ball the objective was then to quickly counter attack using the two wings with Kamano and Malcom, two fast players that appreciate one on one situations. Of course, the right wing was more exploited than the left one due to the presence of Bordeaux’s star: Malcom.

Problems

Nevertheless, Bordeaux’s wingers faced two strong full backs: Youri and Meunier that were supported (during the first 30 minutes) by both Neymar and Mbappe. And when the two youngsters were not here to defend, Draxler and Verratti the two central midfielders came to close up the wings.

Another problem Bordeaux had to face was its own imprecision in the penultimate passes. This difficulty is illustrated by De Preville’s shot/centre at the 22’ that finished behind the throw line… The number of key passes compared to the number of passes made by Bordeaux highlights this inaccuracy: 0 key pass out of 29 passes for Kamano and 0 out of 20 for De Preville (but one assist on the first goal for him). The latter had a really rough game as he was completely dominated by Paris’ centre backs and also because his team played not high enough on the pitch. Indeed, this striker touched only 16 balls out of 30 in the opposite 30 metres and only 3 in Areola’s area.

Last but not least, Bordeaux suffered from a lack of movements by its attackers and midfielders that rarely made runs into the opposite box. In addition, their first desires to carry the ball into the box were calmed down by Mbappe who waited behind their backs and lead to a free kick (origin of Neymar’s first goal)

Paris Saint-Germain tactics

Main objective

Even though, when defending, Mbappe and Neymar were along the touch lines, when Paris had possession of the ball both of them went to center of the field to almost play like offensive midfielders. They, therefore, left Youri and Meunier alone on the wings but the aim was to over occupy the center (5 PSG players against 3 from Bordeaux). By staying between the defence and the midfield the two attackers enjoyed large and free areas with plenty of time to turn around and prepare for their attacks.

Consequences

Bordeaux was completely lost with those two inside forwards and deciding to keep putting pressure on the player with the ball. One at the time Bordeaux players came out of their midfield line to attack the ball. However, no teammates were covering their backs which made it really easy for Verratti or Rabiot to pass the ball to Mbappe or Neymar that were behind the Bordeaux midfielder who was putting pressure.

In addition of this unorganized pressing Bordeaux was really lazy in repositioning and reorganizing their midfield after unsuccessful attacks. Again Neymar and Mbappe were waiting behind those ‘lazy’ midfielders to receive the ball and score some goals.

Draxler’s new position

Advantages

We had the chance to discover Draxler in a new position as a central midfielder. Contrarily to Rabiot who usually has this role, Draxler is a true attacker which turned him into a dangerous box-to-box midfielder. He was also able to use the left wing which was another issue for Bordeaux as the danger was coming from literally everywhere. This role as a number 8 allowed him to use his pace and his dribbling skills that lead to his goal (45’) or Mbappe’s (58’) where he gets the ball back and immediately makes a run toward the box.





Inconvenient

While Draxler did really well with this new position we can ask ourselves if he is able to repeat those type of games in the same position. The truth is, by originally being an attacking player, he has some issues when it comes to defending and he tends to commit several useless fouls (foul on Sankharé at the 49’ that lead to a dangerous free kick for instance).

My opinion

I think it will be complicated for Draxler to play in this position against bigger teams like Bayern or even against Monaco in the championship. This can hinder PSG’s effective capacity to get the ball back and defend properly.

Malcom’s isolation

His main problem

As we saw with the heat map in the previous section, Bordeaux’s favoured the right wing with Malcom. Indeed, the young Brazilian (20 years old) is the second Bordeaux player who touched the most balls (78 for him and 80 for Octavio) and also the one who shot the most (6 in total). However, he was often left alone by his teammates with De Preville, for example, waiting for the ball in the center and Kamano on the other wing waiting for a cross. Unfortunately for Malcom, PSG quickly understood the plan and immediately controlled Malcom with two players (usually Draxler/Neymar with Youri) defending on him and others blocking passing solutions whenever he had the ball.

His response

Due to the solid defence on the wing, Malcom tried to come in the inside of the pitch as shown by the graph underneath. Being left footed he was able to shoot from long ranges once he cut inside. In fact, three of his six shots where coming from outside the penalty box. Nevertheless, Marquinhos, Rabiot and especially Kimpembe managed to close all the shooting angles Malcom had.

Proof of his tendency to come in the center: (@Whoscored.com)

My Grades

Paris Saint-Germain

Areola: 7 (Only one save to make, he made it. Good passing and crossing)

Youri: 6,5 (Strong in defence but could have been more involved and dangerous in attack)

Kimpembe: 7,5 (Really solid and confident. He lost one dangerous ball)

Marquinhos: 8 (Nothing much to say)

Meunier: 7,5 (Same as Youri with more involvement in attack and one goal)

Rabiot: 7,5 (Really active in both attack and defence)

Verratti: 6,5 (He touched lots of balls but still disappointed by his performance compared to some games in the previous year)

Draxler: 8,5 (He quickly got used to his new position. He was extremely dangerous and scored the goal of the week end in Ligue 1)

Neymar: 9 (He was running and dribbling everywhere, impossible to stop for Bordeaux)

Cavani: 7,5 (Nothing special, he finished when he had to)

Mbappe: 8,5 (Same as Neymar but ‘only’ one goal)

Bordeaux

Costil: N/A (Couldn’t do anything much he does not deserve those 6 goals)

Pellenard: 3 (He had big troubles against Mbappe or Meunier)

Jovanovic: 2

Toulalan: 3 (Made one really good tackle against Neymar)

Sabaly: N/A (He got injured)

Otavio: 2 (Complicated game for him with many players to deal with behind his back)

Lerager: 2 (Same thing)

Sankharé: 3 (Same thing + He scored a goal)

Kamano: 3 (He happened to be dangerous once or twice)

De Preville: 2 (He did nothing much except putting pressure)

Malcom: 5 (He tried his best and did not give up)

Thank you. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

Twitter: @Theo_Cormerais

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