There is no emergency at Paris Saint-Germain yet, but without its attacking stars, the usual Ligue 1 ogre is suddenly less scary. At the Parc des Princes, for the first of the Spanish coach Luis Enrique on the Parisian bench, the defending French champions conceded a draw (0-0), Saturday evening August 12, against Lorient during the 1st day of championship.
Deprived of Kylian MBappé ? in conflict with his management and dismissed for the moment ?, neither Neymar ? officially the victim of a viral syndrome and perhaps on the way out ?, nor Lionel Messi ? left to export his talent to American fields with his new club Miami ?, the Parisians dominated the entire meeting, without ever managing to score or shake a well-established Lorient defense.
PSG showed up with an attack made up of South Korean Lee Kang-in, Portuguese Gonçalo Ramos and Spaniard Marco Asensio, three rookies who struggled to find spaces during an almost permanent siege of the Lorient area.
Barren Bullet Possession
Luis Enrique was able to get a glimpse of what awaits him at least until the end of the month and the end of the transfer period. By starting six players who landed in the capital this summer, the Spaniard has already tried to imprint his tactical paw based on excessive possession of the ball (more than 77% to the advantage of the Parisians) . A philosophy of play which, without sharp acceleration or great technical mastery, quickly turns out to be sterile, as his Spanish selection had sadly demonstrated during the last World Cup by being picked by Morocco in the round of 16.
There were thus very few opportunities to be credited to the Parisians. Gonçalo Ramos was quite discreet in front of goal, only very rarely managing to get into a striking position, except at the start of the game (8th) and in the final quarter of an hour (78th).
Lee Kang-in also had a great opportunity after the break but he completely missed his recovery (47th), like his match where he was valiant but inefficient. It was then the turn of Fabian Ruiz to see his shot repelled at close range by Lorient goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo (77th).
Mbappé’s shadow
By dint of coming up against the Breton defence, Paris could even have been surprised in return, Laurent Abergel having found the outside post of Gianluigi Donnarumma at the end of the first period by recovering a ball after a bad pass from Milan Skriniar to Vitinha ( 41st).
“The opponent defended a lot, we were better than them but we didn’t create enough chances,” analyzed Luis Enrique. He lacked more intense off-the-ball play, diagonal and range play and efficiency. But we deserved to win. »
This month of August is likely to be very long for PSG, pending the outcome of the soap opera Mbappé who wishes to stay until the end of his contract in 2024 without extending it in order to leave free, while the management of the club intends transfer it to recover compensation.
The club’s top scorer was present in the stands, all smiles alongside the latest Parisian recruit, Ousmane Dembélé. But his shadow has constantly hovered over the lawn of the Parc des Princes.
The next match for Marseille
Earlier in the afternoon, Olympique de Marseille, amorphous and far from the account on Wednesday in the Champions League, showed a better face to beat Reims (2-1) even if Marcelino’s men clearly still have a lot of work.
After just one game, lost in Athens against Panathinaikos (1-0) in the first leg of C1 qualifying, there was already pressure on OM. The new Marseille coach – also Spanish – spoke very clearly of a “bad game” and announced changes. There were some with the tenure of Vitinha, Valentin Rongier, Chancel Mbemba or the young François-Régis Mughe.
The Marseillais entered the match well, with much more commitment and rhythm than Wednesday in Greece. But they were not rewarded for these good intentions, Reims opening the scoring quickly by the talented Junya Ito, who volleyed a ball delivered by Marshall Munetsi, who emerged victorious from his aerial duel with Jonathan Clauss (10th).
Vitinha as OM savior
Quite logically, Marseille quickly equalized, thanks to a very nice strike from the right of Azzedine Ounahi (23rd). Very animated, the first period continued with a canceled goal on each side, for Reims and Ito because of a ball passed into touch, and for OM and Vitinha on a slight offside.
Despite the good entry of Ismaïla Sarr, the match remained very balanced for a long time and OM created little danger. Until a harmless action: a touch, a pass “haphazardly” from Sarr, and Vitinha who beat Yunis Abdelhamid, distracted, to finally find the reward for his very good match (73rd). Solid, Marseille then held on until the end, making the quality of their bench speak with the entries of Amine Harit, Jordan Veretout, Pierre-Eymerick Aubameyang or Mattéo Guendouzi.
Pleading the lack of time and the need to work again, Marcelino also judged on Friday that his team was still “really far” from the level at which he imagines it in the long term. She will probably not be there yet on Tuesday to welcome Panathinaikos for the return leg. But OM will at least approach this crucial match for the rest of their season with a little more serenity and with the confidence offered by the victory of the day.
