Without Zlatan Ibrahimovic to lead the Paris Saint-Germain attack, it was expected that Paris Saint-Germain would struggle to get the better of FC Barcelona. However, in the Swede's absence, the fluid Parisian attack terrorised the Spanish defence and inspired the French side to victory on Tuesday night.
PSG have sent shock waves through European football with a wonderful 3-2 win over the Spanish giants in Tuesday night's blockbuster match in Group F.
Laurent Blanc's side started as huge underdogs in the Parc des Princes, taking on a side with stars such as Neymar and Lionel Messi and without their own headliners, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva, but the Parisians shook off their Ligue 1 cobwebs to put in an amazing team performance.
Blanc kept PSG's normal shape, picking Edinson Cavani , Javier Pastore and Lucas Moura to lead the attack in his 4-3-3 formation. Without their talismanic Swedish forward, the attack was not meant to have enough to overpower Barcelona, but it was actually a blessing in disguise, and the PSG coach will be delighted with the performances of all three of his attacking players.
At some point at this early stage of the season, each of the three has come under some level of criticism regarding performance—Cavani for not taking his chances while leading the attack, Lucas for his lack of productivity in the final third and Pastore for not building on his excellent start to the season.
All three players combined perfectly in what was a wonderful team performance. None of the trio made the scoresheet, and only Lucas grabbed an assist, but it was their contribution as a whole that made the performance special.
If there is one thing that you don't often get from Ibrahimovic, it's tracking back and putting in a defensive shift. Although all three were in the side primarily for their attacking attributes, none of them shirked the team ethos.
It is difficult to single out one of Cavani, Lucas and Pastore for their individual efforts. Each player played his role to perfection, and the whole of Paris will be proud of each player's work rate.
Cavani's night was far from perfect, but he worked extremely hard for his team. At the end of the first half, he tracked Andres Iniesta all the way back into his own penalty area and made an excellent tackle to stop the Spanish midfielder from getting his shot away.
In the final third, he tried to make things happen. He had a few opportunities to make space for an attempt on goal, but each time, the ball would either not sit for him or a Barcelona defender got a vital touch.
He will feel that he could have done better on one or two of his chances, especially late in the second half when at 3-2, he cut inside only to hit a very tame shot at goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Throughout the match, there were times where he maybe could have gambled, made more of an effort to get on the end of one or two crosses, but it's hard to fault the work he did all over the pitch.
In the first half especially, Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba was given a torrid night by Brazilian Lucas Moura. The Spanish defender is no slouch, but his pace was brought into question against the Brazilian. Too often, Lucas was able to leave the defender for dead, getting in behind and causing the back line a huge amount of problems.
After Dani Alves had given away a free-kick for handball, it was Lucas who played in the vital free-kick, picking out David Luiz on the penalty spot. The Brazilian defender turned and finished expertly to give the home side the lead.
Lucas gave PSG a constant out ball down the right flank; he was always available to receive the ball and was continuously trying to make something happen in the final third. If Lucas can find this form during the course of the season, there is no doubt the criticism towards his end product will soon die away.
The best of the three was undoubtedly Pastore. After a good first season in Paris, the Argentine playmaker has been much maligned for his abject displays and has had his effort questioned.
Anyone who watched that superb performance on Tuesday night will find it hard to criticise the 25-year-old attacking midfielder. He was constantly running with the ball when space appeared on the wings and through the middle, and he was tracking back into his own half to cover the forward runs of Dani Alves down the Barcelona right flank.
This continued the excellent start to the season Pastore has enjoyed. The levels had dropped a little in recent weeks, but this was by far the best we have seen from the Argentine. According to WhoScored.com, no one in the front three saw as much of the ball as Pastore, but he also made four successful tackles, showing his ability on both ends of the pitch.
Blanc brought him off with four minutes to go for Clement Chantome, and he deserved the standing ovation given to him by the full house in the Parc de Princes.
This team performance from PSG shows that they are far from a one-man team when they put their minds and bodies to it. The front three was everywhere, and without the trio putting in this sort of effort, PSG wouldn't have come away with all three points.
Blanc should get full praise for the way his side played on Tuesday, but the players also deserve credit for the levels of the performance. However, Blanc will be asking where this effort has been all season, and it is now up to Pastore, Cavani and Lucas to show that they can do this on a weekly basis, not just when Barcelona comes to town.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1v2eZqH
via IFTTT September 30, 2014 at 02:47PM
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