2023-12-21 09:27:00
The Paris Saint-Germain match against LOSC at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (North), December 17, 2023. MICHEL SPINGLER / AP
Half a season has just ended. On Wednesday December 20, the now eighteen Ligue 1 clubs played the 17th day of the French championship, before taking a break for the end-of-year holidays. Fall champion, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) seems well on its way to retaining its title, despite a game plan that still has room for improvement, but the first leg of Ligue 1 also revealed some surprises. A look back at his main lessons.
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At the top of the ranking, the observation remains unrelenting: like the last two seasons, PSG occupies first place at the break, with a comfortable lead over second (5 points). The capital club also has the best attack (42 goals scored) and the third best defense (14 goals conceded).
But despite this accounting domination, PSG is still looking for a tactical identity, five months after the arrival on the bench of Luis Enrique, a fan of a slick possession game. However, it is rather the qualities in transition of arrows Kylian Mbappé, Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé which allowed the Parisian club to obtain its most notable successes, against Marseille (4-0) and against Monaco (5-2) . “I’m not sure that the coach’s style of play is perfectly suited to the squad we offered him”estimates former club goalkeeper Jérôme Alonzo, now a consultant for Prime Video.
The Parisian off-season was marked by a refocusing of sports management, with the departure of declining glories Lionel Messi, Neymar and Marco Verratti, and the recruitment of several young French attackers with high potential. If Ousmane Dembélé confirms that he is one of the most unbalanced players in Europe, other recruits struggle to be decisive, like Randal Kolo Muani (4 goals) and Bradley Barcola (1 goal), both arrived in the last days of the transfer window for a total of 145 million euros. If Kylian Mbappé, already the author of 18 goals (in 16 matches) continues to panic the scorers: like his saving goal in Dortmund, in the Champions League, the Parisian light often comes from “Titi” Warren Zaire-Emery , 17 years old and already essential to the Parisian midfielder.
Who would have imagined Olympique Lyonnais (OL) to be in 15th place in the rankings with only 16 points taken in 17 days? Three and a half years after reaching the last four of the Champions League, the Rhone club is learning this season to play for survival, after a disastrous start to the championship where the supporters had to wait until November 12 to celebrate their first victory of the season. (facing Rennes).
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