Thursday 16 August 2007

Paris Saint Germain Squad Analysis (Emirates Cup)


PSG, once a dominant and competitive force in French Football, dropped way off the pace during the 2006/07 season. Getting off to a poor start they entered their match with rivals Marseille low on confidence and they lost 3-1 at home. The PSG fans were not happy and improvement was demanded. Mid way through the season the Parc Des Princes was only half full for home games and led to Guy Lacombe being sacked as PSG manager and replaced by former Rangers manager, Paul Le Guen. Results improved slightly as the team strove to improve on their disastrous 17th position. By the end of the season a bit of form saw them rise to 15th; however that still wasn’t good enough for a club of PSG’s history. The squad is better than their placing tells.
Pauleta still managed to be top scorer in Ligue 1 again despite his team finishing so low. He has hard working strikers in Luyindula, Pierre-Alain Frau and Diane around him and they help him reach such tallies. He has a constant supply line from the quick creative Bonaventure Kalou. Marcelo Gallardo offers the same on the other flank. Jerome Rothen moved recently to PSG and many thought he could move to a bigger league in Europe, not the quickest winger in the business but he makes up for it with good passing, vision and a very good left foot on him.
The centre of midfield seems to lack something, a dominant force in the centre of the park. They have players like Digard, Mulumbu, Rodriguz, Chantome, Clement etc however it didn’t seem like the 2 chosen were kept consistent very much, Le Guen took over and I’m sure he will look to address this as their isn’t a clear match winner within the midfielders.
PSG lost David Rozenhal to Newcastle already this summer and he was a key figure for them. They have lost their defensive leader and Le Guen may need to address this. He has Mario Yepes who was Rozenhal’s partner at the back but he needs to find someone new to play alongside him. They need solidity at the back as they conceded too many goals last season.

PSG were very disappointing last season and will be keen to put that behind them and start afresh. The Emirates Cup will be a time for them to go out as underdogs and show if they have improved. People will still expect them to be beaten by Arsenal and Valencia but it certainly will not be an easy game for those two sides. Pauleta is always a threat with Rothen’s supply but the defence is shaky and with points gained for every goal a team scores Arsenal and Valencia will look to exploit that.

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