{"id":10143,"date":"2024-09-30T21:07:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T20:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10143"},"modified":"2024-10-01T23:46:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T22:46:13","slug":"young-and-hungry-this-is-not-your-mbappes-psg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10143","title":{"rendered":"Young and hungry, this is not your Mbapp\u00e9’s PSG"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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And so to the Stadium of Stone for the Tuesday evening\u2019s visit of our first Pot 1 opponent in the new format Champions League, French champions Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSG is an artifice in that it was created at the start of the 1970s to fill the vacuum in Paris caused by the absence of a Ligue 1 team. Paris FC, a shell club set up by two businessmen, merged with Stade Saint-Germain, a Ligue 2 club based 20 km west of the city centre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The well-heeled suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which derives its name from St. Germain, a 6th-century Gallo-Roman bishop of Paris, is redolent with royal history. The badge on PSG’s shirts long featured a cradle and the fleur-de-lys in recognition of the birth of the Sun King, Louis XIV, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1638. If you were paying attention in history class at school, you may remember that James II fled there after the Glorious Revolution. He died there in exile. Still, that was a better way to go than his father, Charles I, who had his head lopped off outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall. Regicide is a dish best-served cold. I digress\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSG soon decamped the suburbs for the Parc de Princes in Paris’s 16th arrondissement. Its first 40 years saw success, tumult and ownership drama. In 2011, Qatar Sports Investments, a subsidiary of the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, bought it. The cradle got dropped from the crest in 2013 in a redesign that also saw Saint-Germain lose its typographically equal billing with Paris and the quintessential symbol of the city, the Eiffel Tower, bestride the fleur-de-lys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With gas wealth came galacticos \u2014 the likes of Beckham, Ibrahimovi\u0107, Neymar, Messi, Mbapp\u00e9 \u2014  blue-chip head coaches \u2014 Ancelotti, Blanc, Emery, Tuchel and Pochettino \u2014 and yet more domestic silverware (last season saw its 12th league title, 15th French cup and ninth league cup), However, the coveted Champions League trophy remained elusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The club changed tack for the 2022-23 season, with financial fair play casting an ever-darkening shadow over Doha’s ‘nation branding’ in the City of Lights. Christophe Galtier replaced Poch to rebuild with younger, hungrier and cheaper talent. After a year and a big clear-out, despite winning the league, Galtier was succeeded by former Barcelona and Spain coach Luis Enrique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrique’s era<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrique arrived with a reputation as a top coach who brought on young players and for having no truck with unruly dressing rooms. Like Arteta, he swept away any troublesome last vestiges of l’ancien r\u00e9gime<\/em> (for which read Mbapp\u00e9) and imposed a new culture and playing style. As Arteta put it in his pre-match presser, Enrique’s fingerprints are all over PSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His first season brought a domestic treble (replicating his first season managing Barcelona), although yet again, no Big Ears, with the team faltering in the semi-final for the third time in five seasons. However, domestic success gave an imprimatur to Enrique’s approach that no one strays from the path he has laid out, as did his willingness to bench Mbapp\u00e9. In another echo of Arteta, when asked about Mbapp\u00e9’s departure to Real Madrid, he retorted that the team is the star. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrique’s footballing philosophy is difficult to pigeonhole; he likes his teams to play high-intensity, attacking, vertical football. It would be misleading to characterise it as counterattacking, as Guardiola has done, but it is not possession-obsessed, either. Enrique has been pragmatic with his formations wherever he has managed, although incisive wingers and all-round intensity have been recurring features. The ex-Liverpool, Bayern, Barca and Spain international Tiago described Enrique as a mix of Guardiola’s tactical acumen and Klopp’s aggressiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrique typically starts PSG in a 4-3-3, although he sometimes uses a back three as he did with Spain. Last season in the CL, he switched to 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 for the away legs against the Barcodes and Real Sociedad, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La selection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-choice keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, one of the best, missed PSG’s past few games because of a muscular problem in his right thigh. He trained on Sunday and has travelled to London, but if he does not start, the Russian international Matvey Safonov, who joined from Krasnodar in the summer, will continue to deputise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The back four will be built around centre backs Marquinhos, the club captain, who has more than 90 caps for Brazil, the first won after he joined PSG 11 years ago, and the young Ecuador international Willian Pacho, who has impressed since arriving in the summer after a \u20ac40 million move from Eintracht Frankfurt. The ex-Inter Slovakian international Milan \u0160kriniar provides cover from the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 22-year-old Portuguese international left-back Nuno Mendes missed Friday’s match because of a virus, so 20-year-old Lucas Beraldo, who arrived from Sao Paolo in January for \u20ac20 million, may start. Beraldo can also play centre-back should Enrique prefer a back three. Moroccan international Achraf Hakimi, reputedly a Real Madrid target, will already have been pencilled in at right back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vitinha, a Portuguese international who spent a season on loan at Wolves when he was with Porto, will likely return from injury to anchor the midfield, accompanied by Joao Neves, who turned 20 on Friday. He was bought from Benfica in the summer for \u20ac60 million to replace Manuel Ugarte, who was considered not good enough on the ball and sold to Man U, where he’d be a better fit. Neves is joint top for assists this season in the top five European leagues with our Starboy and Barca wunderkind Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enrique has talent aplenty to complete his midfield or fine-tune it from the bench: French international Warren Za\u00efre-Emery, still only18 and a highly rated PSG yoof product who broke into the team last season: 23-year-old Lee Kang-in, a rising South Korea star who in 2019 became the youngest South Korean to appear in the CL; Senny Mayulu, another 18-year-old product of PSG’s academy; and, at 28, the relatively veteran Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz, picked up two seasons ago from Napoli for a bargain \u20ac22.50 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up front, Ousmane Dembele brings the experience of more than 50 caps for France, including winning the World Cup, to the right wing. Highly-rated and highly-dangerous left-winger Bradley Barcola, 22, who broke into the French national team this year, is Ligue 1’s leading goalscorer this term with six; he has pace to burn and ball control to match. So, too, does D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9, a 19-year-old regarded as one of the brightest prospects in French football. Enrique has carefully managed the introduction of PSG’s \u20ac50 million summer signing, giving him his first start only ten days ago. He missed Friday’s game against Rennes with injury and is doubtful for Tuesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kolo Muani, another France international, will likely provide the cutting edge at centre-forward. He is a tall, rangy winger-turned-centre forward physically reminiscent of TH14. In the summer of 2023, PSG paid Eintracht Frankfurt \u20ac80 million for him plus \u20ac5 million in add-ons. With fellow centre-forwards Gon\u00e7alo Ramos and ex-Real Madrid man Marco Asensio recently off games (although Asensio has travelled), Muani’s expensive shoulders carry the burden of replacing Mbappe’s goals (44 of PSG’s 120 in all competitions last season).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three draws in four<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve met PSG twice before, home and away in the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1994 on our way to winning it, and in the CL group stage in 2016, which didn’t end happily for either club: in the Round of 16, PSG had a 4-0 home win advantage wiped out by Barcelona, then managed by Enrique, and we won’t dwell on our two games against Bayern Munich. Three of the four games between us and PSG were draws, and the other was a 1-0 to the Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a more extensive history against the Paris club that PSG has eclipsed, Racing Club de Paris. Herbert Chapman started a tradition in 1930 of taking Arsenal on European tours. Friendlies with Racing would continue, wars permitting, for 30 years, but that is a story for another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PSG leads Ligue 1 with five wins and a draw in six games, scoring 20 and conceding five. In their opening CL fixture, they unconvincingly beat Girona 1-0. We will be the strongest opposition they have faced so far this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They, too, will be formidable opponents. It goes without saying that Arteta will play his strongest available team against the club for which he played his first senior top-flight game. Given the availability doubts over White and Calafiori, I am going to fudge the full-backs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber\/White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber\/Calafiori<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey, Rice, Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Havertz, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the draw in Bergamo, we need all three points from a home game. Hopefully, we can battle through, but it will be no walk-over: 2-1 to the Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game ‘holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so to the Stadium of Stone for the Tuesday evening\u2019s visit of our first Pot 1 opponent in the new format Champions League, French champions Paris Saint-Germain. PSG is an artifice in that it was created at the start of the 1970s to fill the vacuum in Paris caused by the absence of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10147,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10143\/revisions\/10147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}