Star studded Paris Saint Germain faced their first major test after the arrival of their two new superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe when they faced Olympique Lyonnais at the Parc des Princes on Sunday, Lyon needed a positive result to be in touch of Monaco and PSG to stop their two horse race from being out of sight.
PSG started in their 4–2–3–1 formation with Neymar, Draxler, and Mbappe operating behind Cavani, while Lyon matched theirs albeit in a more 4–4–1–1 shape with Depay, Fekir, and Traore behind Mariano. Lyon outfield players tried to press PSG’s build up albeit not intensively, once they realized PSG can pass their way out they went back into a lower 4–4–2 block allowing Silva, Kimpembe, Rabiot and Motta time on the ball. Meanwhile, Depay and Traore did a fine job tracking the offensive threat of Alves and Kurzawa, in assistance of Ndombele and Tousart which was possible due to PSG lacking a midfield player to transition the ball from the building up phase to the chance creation phase..
Unai Emery’s side positioned in a weird 4–0–6 or 6–0–4 depending on the full backs positioning, the absence of a third midfielder made it easier for Lyon to defend the wide areas while also screening the midfield to block any passes to the front four. Draxler’s movements to drop to pick the ball weren’t as frequent to help PSG establish any kind of innovation. On the other side not only Lyon’s positioning was magnificent, they won most of the challenges, pressed brilliantly in their own half, and once they retrieved the ball, they transitioned into attack rapidly through Ndombele who was arguably Lyon’s best player on the day. The only thing that OL lacked was the counter attacking ability once they were in PSG’s half, as Depay and Fekir are more of dribblers/creators with some poor decision making from Mariano, but nevertheless Bruno Genesio tactically outplayed Unai Emery and his superstars throughout the first half.
A change in formation was heavily needed from Emery, and a 4–3–3 is what he had under his sleeve, Draxler dropped into midfield which left the area behind Cavani empty for Neymar to roam between the lines. Draxler’s position now in a kind of flat 3 midfield gave Rabiot and Motta another option to pass the ball to, while giving Ndombele and Tousart another movement to be worried about. Neymar positioning was quite interesting with him being freedom to roam into the space to create and be more of a direct threat rather than being on the wing, also this change in formation gave access to Kurzawa and Alves higher up the wings.
Furthermore, the subs had an effect on the game with Genesio replacing Mariano for Cornet to add some pace on the counter attack, but a very peculiar change by taking the best player on the pitch off Tanguy Ndombele, Emery brought some fresh blood with Giovani Lo Celso and Yuri Berchiche, and changed the midfield with Motta dropping as a pivot, Rabiot on the left, and Lo Celso on the right. PSG managed to find their first goal through Neymar dropping into the number 10 position, and playing Alves in who miss hit the cross, but a follow header from Motta and a brilliant turn from Lo Celso on the wing to cross for Cavani, unluckily it was an own goal from Marcelo who was flawless up to this error. PSG managed to find another own goal after Neymar’s exquisite pass to Mbappe, with Cavani having missed an earlier penalty.
Even though PSG managed to grab the 3 points, there performance was worrying and the scoreline would have been different if not for a couple of variables, luck being one of them. Emery’s first test with his super offence only passed with the scoring grade, but the 4–2–3–1 will face a tough task against a better counter attacking side. On the other hand, Lyon were impressive, and they could have won it if not for Ndombele’s shot hitting the woodwork and Mariano’s weird decision making on the counter attack just before half time, on a micro level the Lyon defenders stood up against the likes of Neymar, Cavani, and Mbappe and were to a certain point beating them hands down. In the Champions League, where PSG would like to advance to further rounds they will face tougher tests than this OL side, and they would have to improve to have a chance against these sides.
