L’Équipe report that PSG Sporting Director Leonardo called Leo Messi’s father, Jorge, to make the French club’s interest in signing the 33-year-old attacker this summer known.

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Jorge Messi responded politely in a phone call with the Brazilian club representative that his son has chosen to join Manchester City, according to the outlet.

As reported by our colleagues at Foot Mercato, Premier League side Fulham have in recent days made serious advances in their attempts to convince 27-year-old French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola to join them on a season-long loan from PSG.

Areola already has a house in London and his family has wanted to move there – Areola has given this move his priority as he is going to be guaranteed a starting berth. Rennes have also been courting him.

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Sources tell Get French Football News that the final stumbling blocks are loan fees to be agreed between the two clubs.

L’Équipe report that French youth international attacking midfielder Jeff Reine-Adélaïe has decided that he wants to move to Rennes to play Champions’ League football and quit Lyon before the transfer window is over.

OL are seeking €30m excluding bonuses in order to part with the ex-Angers and Arsenal man, bu SRFC are not currently disposed to make such an offer, and have already had several bids rejected by Les Gones for JRA.

Rennes are now looking at including players in part exchange in an eventual deal – the question is, would this be something that Lyon would be willing to consider.

One to watch in the coming days for a player that OL paid €25m + €2.5m in bonuses for just last summer.

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RMC Sport have summarised the events of the last few days in the Neymar – Alvaro Gonzalez alleged racism saga, which is said to have occurred during the Le Classique match between PSG and Marseille two Sunday’s ago, with the Brazilian insisting that the Spaniard called him a “son of a b**** monkey.”

Alvaro wanted to say it, face to face, to Marseille supporters – OM granted his request to arrange a meeting with key members of club fan groups, which occurred on Monday at the training centre, so that the 30-year-old could have the opportunity to explain himself to them.

In this meeting, the Spaniard “swore” that he never said anything racist to Neymar. And that he wants to meet with Neymar face to face to sort out their differences. This face-to-face was important for the fan groups, who hold the fight against racism as a crucial tenet of their ideology.

The Spaniard is understood to have spoken very emotionally, promising that he is not a racist and that he is very open to all different cultures. He explained how much he loved the city and the club and he struggled to hold back his rage on the night that he was accused by Neymar on the pitch of being racist. He was in tears at one point in the meeting. Gonzalez has also been harassed in the streets of Marseille in recent days by an OM fan who called him a racist – he was left shocked by the situation.

His family have also been badly affected by this series of events, with the press coverage in Spain being especially intense on the subject.

Gonzalez went even further, telling OM President Jacques-Henri Eyraud: “If you don’t believe me, if I am a problem, then I accept to leave and quit Marseille for free.”

In other news, Marseille affirm that a legal filing has been made by Alvaro Gonzalez after he and his family received death threats. Neither the Marseille nor Paris authorities have been able to confirm receipt of that legal filing. One of the major tasks for law enforcement will be who and how Gonzalez’s telephone number was leaked onto the internet. Sources close to Marseille are convinced that Neymar contacted La Liga players to get Gonzalez’s number and wonder if that is how it was leaked. The Spaniard has now had to change his number.

The LFP have been trying to calm things down and conversations between them and the two French clubs have occurred to discuss Neymar and Alvaro meeting in person as a way to show unity and that the pair are making up.

Neymar was heard by the LFP disciplinary commission on Wednesday and Alvaro was either heard by the commission today or will be tomorrow.

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Ligue 1 side Nantes continue to seek to land a striker before Monday’s deadline and they have recently had their sights on Marseille man Valère Germain, who they were already rebuffed by at the beginning of summer.

FCN’s new strategy is to offer him a long-term contract, but barring an incredible u-turn, the ex-Monaco man and 30-year-old will not be joining Les Canaris.

He is loyal to the same position that he took at the beginning of this window – German has decided to stay with Marseille this season to compete in the Champions’ League. In a year’s time, he will be a free agent and join any club of his choosing.

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Jake Smales bows out in style as host, joined by Jeremy Smith and Eric Devin as the guys react to the Champions’ League draw, as well as looking ahead to PSG vs Angers, Lyon vs Marseille & much more.

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After a season away from European football’s top table, the Red Devils returned to action at the Parc des Princes, where just 19 months ago they secured one of their greatest ever comebacks in this competition. Playing against an extremely poor Paris Saint-Germain side, the away team were able to secure a late 2-1 win thanks to, once again, Marcus Rashford.

Bruno Fernandes had opened the scoring with a retaken penalty but the hosts looked on course for a point after Anthony Martial turned a corner into his own goal.

United got a relatively easy game as PSG players seemed uninterested. In this analysis, I will try to break down what both teams have done right and what they could have done better. 

Thinking behind both line-ups

Thomas Tuchel had to deal with the injuries of Marco Verratti, Thilo Kehrer, Juan Bernat, Mauro Icardi, and Marquinhos. Four of them started the Champions’ League Final last August. With Ángel Di María not being able to feature in PSG’s last three Ligue 1 games due to a red card and the not completely fit Ander Herrera, Danilo Pereira, and Rafinha, Tuchel had quite the difficult task to find a competitive team.

The German manager decided to opt for a 4-3-3, changing from his usual 4-4-2 he uses in Ligue 1. The aim behind this was to have more bodies in midfield to prevent transitions from occurring, something United are excellent at.

On the other hand, United started the game in a 5-2-3 with Bruno Fernandes as a False nine. They adopted their usual plan for big games by conceding possession and hitting the opponent on the counter. This is why Fred and Scott McTominay were picked ahead of Paul Pogba in the starting line-up. Alex Telles was making his debut, while Axel Tuanzebe was playing his first game in ten months, with Maguire was out because of an injury.

PSG lacked players in the opposition box in the first half

My main criticism regarding PSG’s approach was the fact they lacked players in the opposition box as a result of option for the 4-3-3 instead of the 4-4-2. I do not know if Kean was fit enough to start but if he was not, it is difficult to see what Tuchel might have done differently, even though this switch prevented PSG from effectively implementing their attacking play. The French side has been designed to play to both Mbappé and Neymar’s strengths, which is to all for them to both interchange off the left side with the left-back making late overlapping runs to find a cutback. The space they have to find out wide can only be created if someone pins the opponent’s centre-backs. This repetitions only successfully occurred at the start of the second half when Moise Kean came in.

In the still below, you can see Layvin Kurzawa crossing the ball even though nobody was there to get on the end of his cross.

Kylian Mbappé had to drop deeper to collect the ball from time to time as there weren’t enough bodies to pin United’s defence, so the Frenchman used his intelligence to attempt to disrupt the opposition’s back line, thus creating space between the lines for Neymar to run into. However, Manchester United remained compact and didn’t allow for any space in behind to their opponent.

These dynamics in this specific play resulted in Neymar releasing the ball as he attempted a pass to Di Maria in a one against two situation.

In the second half, Moise Kean allowed PSG to switch back to a 4–4-2 which consequently drew United deeper at the start of the second half. PSG were finally able to find pockets of space between the lines to then play their usual overloads on the left-side for either Kurzawa or Mbappé’s overlapping runs.

In the instance below, Neymar is found by Di Maria and faces the play. He is then able to pick out Mbappé with a simple ball, which created momentum for PSG as Mbappé’s overlapping run coincided with Tuanzebe deciding to leave his backline to press Neymar who was the ball-carrier. Unfortunately for PSG, Kean didn’t sense the opportunity by making a run to the near post, the Everton loanee instead moved behind Lindelöf, which failed.

United were still able to defend well enough, even following the 4-4-2 switch, even though they should also say a massive thanks to Kurzawa who was exceptionally poor with deliveries and dribbling once the ball came to his side for a cutback. He never provided the ball in the right space at the right time.

In the still below, Di Maria was able to find Neymar between the lines. Both Mbappé and Kean pinned United’s centre-backs which created the space for Neymar to receive it. The Brazilian then passed the ball back to his teammate who finds Kurzawa on the overlap. The left-back completely mishits his low cross and United recovered the ball pretty easily.

In the 82nd minute, PSG could have scored from a mistake by United’s pivot as they left space to Neymar in the middle of the park. However, Neymar’s shot was stopped by David De Gea, who was remarkably good on Tuesday night.

No intensity from PSG’s front three

I have watched this game three times and still came to the same conclusion: Kylian Mbappé and Neymar were not anywhere near their usual levels on Tuesday. Di María has an excuse as he was out of form, but the former two have nothing to hide behind. PSG are the team I’ve watched the most last season after United so I know both teams inside and out and frankly, it has happened way too many times that both Neymar and Mbappé were not good enough on major occasions (against Dortmund away or against Liverpool away two seasons ago among others). But, we should also definitely give credit to United’s defence who were compact off the ball (albeit in some occurrences I already showed you above).

However, what was borderline unprofessional and disgraceful from PSG’s front three was their total lack of tracking back in United’s transitions and failure to press the United defence when they were out of possession. You can be underperforming going forward or even be shut down by the great work of the opponent (it was a bit of both on Tuesday) but you have to work for your teammates when you don’t have the ball. In the second minute of the game, you can see the front three not pressing United players, with Tuchel screaming at them to push higher. They simply were not willing to do the work for the team.

United’s second goal is an example of where Pogba has all the time in the world to find Marcus Rashford. Many more examples are depicted below.

In the still below, you can see Fernandes picking up the ball with time to take the shot. PSG’s forwards were still in United’s half, which shouldn’t be happening as they should make more effort for the team.

The only time they worked for the team was during the first twenty minutes of the second half and this is when PSG dominated United. You can see all the PSG players in their own half attempting to defend as a unit and be compact.

Finally, I wanted to pick up on what was the most telling lack of off the ball work from PSG. Luke Shaw picked up the ball deep and in wide areas, which often provoked delicious opportunities for PSG to press or produce traps. However, nothing happened. Shaw was able to find his teammates in wide areas and United players were able to put together quick combinations to take the ball out from the back and find teammates in the opponent’s half. This was possible as both Neymar and Di Maria didn’t move at all during this 10 second sequence.

Knowing United’s struggles to play out the back against a press, it would have been interesting to see PSG trying to press immediately in their defensive third. Nothing as such happened, which helped United gain confidence throughout the game.

J.K.

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Ouest-France report that Ligue 1 side Angers’ striker, Stéphane Bahoken, was on Tuesday arrested by police and taken into custody on suspicion of threatening his partner with violence and physically assaulting her on previous occasions.

The 28-year-old refused his right to a lawyer and admitted partial guilt, per the local outlet, all whilst defending his actions.

He will be tried by prosecution tomorrow (Wednesday 28th October 2020). It is a busy week in court for the Ligue 1 side, as on Thursday, club colleague and winger Farid El Melali will be tried for exposing his sex organs to unwitting members in his apartment block.

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Speaking in an interview with Canal Football Club, Sevilla’s French central defender Jules Koundé confirmed that he spoke with Pep Guardiola during the summer transfer window about a move to Manchester City, but that his Spanish club rejected the €55m offer.

“Yes I spoke with Guardiola, I had him on the phone, it went very well. We had a discussion, in Spanish, he has some words in French, I was interested in going it was a super opportunity, I had guarantees around playing, but it wasn’t done. They could have said it was a very good sum and that they were not going to do any better (than the €55m that Manchester City offered Sevilla), but it shows what they think of me, that I am a boy who works hard and who can improve, which is why the declined I think.”

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Paris Saint-Germain held on to claim the three points with a vital 1-0 win over RB Leipzig at Parc des Princes on Tuesday. This win gives them new hope of qualifying from Champions League Group H as they now sit in second and have destiny in their own hands – if they win their last two games, they will go through. It took just 11 minutes for the hosts to go in front through Neymar from the penalty spot after Angel Di Maria was admittedly very softly fouled after good pressing from the home side.

The visitors grew in confidence during the second half and PSG were forced to stay back and defend against the ball. Thomas Tuchel was under major pressure coming into this game, but PSG got much needed three points.

While Julian Nagelsmann opted for a 4-4-2, Thomas Tuchel decided to play a 4-3-3 with Neymar as a false nine. Presnel Kimpembe was replaced by Abdou Diallo because of his red card against Leipzig in the last game.

Leandro Paredes started because Marquinhos was back to his more natural centre-back position. Finally, Mitchel Bakker was favoured by Tuchel.

A lack of control throughout the game

PSG had 37% possession throughout the game, they had no control and often relied on long balls to progress the play.

There were two main reasons for this issue. Firstly, the midfielders didn’t make themselves available between the lines to offer a passing lane to the centre-backs. But the second one was of a different nature. When PSG had to play out the back, they were either in a two or in a three. When they were two, they didn’t have numerical superiority against Leipzig’s two forwards to bypass the first line, which meant that Leipzig’s forwards were pressing them intensely. The midfielders didn’t offer themselves as options for the ball-carrier (often Diallo), consequently leading to hopeless long balls to their forwards. However, when they were in a three, they had this numerical superiority which meant Leipzig forwards couldn’t press them. They had more time to find their partner and it led to Neymar or Mbappé being found in the half-spaces with a good pass from Pereira or Diallo.

Neymar was able to take the ball deep and progress it thanks to his carries, he was also able to get one or two free-kicks but it was a poor performance from him overall on that side of the play. He often slowed down move construction with extra touches something that he is unlikely to have done to the same extent had he not been lacking in fitness.

Mbappé was better than usual in the context of his very difficult 2020 when he had to use the ball. He was found in the half-space from time to time and played simply to find a teammate. He was hard to find behind Leipzig’s imperious defensive line of Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahim Konaté but the French forward put in a strong effort.

It was Marco Verratti’s presence, coupled with Moise Kean and Pablo Sarabia coming on that brought a bit more control at the end of the game and PSG desperately needed this as Leipzig sustained pressure for 20 minutes in the second half. Les Parisiens were then able to get out of pressure situations thanks to a combination of the diminutive Italian playmaker but also to Rafinha. Both were helped by Sarabia and Kean who pressed immediately after PSG lost the ball, which helped PSG to sustain pressure in their opponent’s half, something Neymar, Mbappé and Angel Di Maria simply didn’t do towards the end of their time on the pitch.

PSG were pretty lucky – Leipzig are struggling to find the dynamism that they were used to having last season. It’s mostly due to the fact they have lost Patrik Schick and Timo Werner, who excelled between the lines. They were able to circulate the ball from right to left much better in order to find the wing-backs into space. They struggle to do that currently.

They were able to find Dani Olmo or Yussuf Poulsen between the lines like highlighted below but those players struggled making the difference.

Disjointed press

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PSG’s press was disjointed because players didn’t make the effort as a team.

Neymar’s pressing completely disappeared in the second half while in the first 45, he was quite good in that regard. It is probably due to his lack of match fitness. He made 25 pressures during the whole game, which is quite impressive overall. Much more impressive than Mbappé who was PSG’s laziest forward. He didn’t have the will to make the efforts Neymar often did in the first half for instance.

However, both were often making the press for the sake of it. If you press as high as PSG were willing to do in the first 30 minutes, it is either you go all in to try to win the ball back or you don’t do it at all and close down space in a different manner. This is highlighted below.

While Mbappé was “faking” the press, Di Maria and Neymar decided to press, but too late. Their press made Leipzig’s holding midfielder available between the lines and Péter Gulácsi was able to pick him up, effectively bypassing the first line of pressure.

They then didn’t track back which caused PSG to defend with only seven players because the front three didn’t react to being bypassed. This is depicted below.

The lack of cohesion is also highlighted below. While Di María closes Dayot Upamecano’s passing lane to his right-back Nordi Mukiele thanks to his cover shadow, Neymar is barely jogging when he should have already been close to Di María to close down the space that Upamecano had to drive forward. The Frenchman drove forward in the space highlighted in the still and found a teammate higher up the pitch.

However, not everything was bad when it came to PSG’s press. The penalty followed a really good press from the whole team and they recovered the ball high up the pitch to immediately get to the box in less than three passes. Di María then got fouled.

The still below is also a good example. Di María was closing down the left-hand side with his cover shadow while Neymar made the effort to close down the immediate access to the half-space. Upamecano could have passed the ball back but he wanted to play it forward so he made a long ball that PSG won back.

Once again, PSG could have been more effective if they were more consistent in their pressing. They could have sustained pressure a bit more and their counter-pressing that became effective at the end thanks to fresh blood would have helped them even more in sustaining this pressure earlier on. The lack of fitness is obviously a reason for this but the lack of consistency they show week in and week out in Ligue 1 when it comes to repeatedly making efforts costs them in the Champions League as they are not used to doing it.

Conclusion

Because football isn’t black or white, you can’t pinpoint one guilty character. Tuchel and the change in philosophy, Leonardo and his poor decisions on the transfer market this summer, the constant injuries from major players since the start of the season, or even the lack of implication from most players are all massive issues that explain the poor performances from PSG so far this season.

J.K.