a lower balance sheet but a more precise identity… Before a decisive week, where is PSG compared to last year?

As PSG prepares to face Monaco on Friday and Newcastle on Wednesday, they find themselves behind compared to their passing times last year at the same time. Will he manage to maintain his form until the end of the season?

Having just returned from an energy-consuming international truce, which left Warren Zaire-Emery on the floor until 2024, PSG is preparing to play two shocks at short intervals. Friday November 24, the capital club, leader, hosts Monaco, third in Ligue 1 just three lengths behind it. On Wednesday, he will host Newcastle for the penultimate day of the Champions League group stage with the obligation to win.

Inconsistent in their results but more attractive in the game, where are the Parisians compared to last season’s team, led by Christophe Galtier? X-ray of the first 16 matches of the two teams.

Three defeats and points left on the way

Paris Saint-Germain took the lead in Ligue 1 before the break, when last season’s team took the lead on the first day. Accounting, he is doing a little less well: with 27 points, he is five points behind Christophe Galtier’s PSG (32) after 12 championship matches played. They also got off to a better start in the Champions League, with eight points in four games (compared to six this year) in a group that was certainly less homogenous. Above all, he had not lost a single match, when the current PSG has already lost three times (against Nice, Newcastle and Milan).

Despite this notable difference, the detailed statistics are almost equivalent. Paris scores slightly less this year (36 goals against 40) but has finished more matches scoring at least three times (9 against 7). On the other hand, Luis Enrique’s PSG conceded twice as many goals (15 against 8).

Mbappé waits for the other attackers to wake up

If we had to summarize the differences between the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 vintages, we would happily cite Lorient defender Julien Laporte. “There’s a lot more intensity, but last year they had players capable of changing the game single-handedly.”, he indicated in the mixed zone after the first match of the season (0-0). Kylian Mbappé was still entangled in the saga of his real false transfer, and without his detonator, the Parisian attack was stalling. With hindsight, the perfect score against OM (4-0 without Mbappé, injured in the 30th) appears like a mirage with no future, as the captain of the Blues (15 goals in all competitions) is the only regular scorer, when he is not alone on his left wing, like in Milan.

The fact that his runner-up in the scorer rankings is right-back Achraf Hakimi (4 goals) – very offensive in this game plan but not used to scoring – reflects this lack of solutions. The attackers Randal Kolo Muani and Gonçalo Ramos share the playing time but not the goals (respectively 3 and 2), Ousmane Dembélé waits tirelessly to open his score, while Marco Asensio and Bradley Barcola show great promise but have played too little .

The comparison with last season is stark: Mbappé had certainly scored a little less (12 goals), but Neymar had the same total and Lionel Messi (8 goals) also had a good share of the pie. “I have a team where every offensive lineman can score.”however swept away Luis Enrique at the end of September, when the hypothesis of Mbappé-dependence was submitted to him.

A defined style and a new dynamic

The truth of November is not that of March and the recent history of PSG is tangible proof. The solid, sometimes even flamboyant dynamic of autumn 2022 gave way, in the following months, to a slump materialized by a passive elimination in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Bayern and by an inglorious title won. The one and a half month truce linked to the World Cup, during which Messi and Neymar let go of many forces, marked a halt in the Parisian season. Without its technical leaders at the top, the team lacked “personality and burst of pride” in the words of Christophe Galtier after a defeat against Lyon (0-1) at the beginning of April.

“We weren’t very consistent last yearadmitted midfielder Vitinha in September. We started very well […], but afterwards we saw a less strong PSG. It could happen again.”. On this account, Luis Enrique is banking on a largely renewed squad this summer, and therefore mentally fresher. Lucas Hernandez, Milan Skriniar or Manuel Ugarte have not experienced the numerous European disillusionments of recent seasons.

Above all, this PSG has a particularly identified style of play this year. “I want 95 minutes of total football, maximum intensity, attacking play.”, commanded the Iberian technician upon his arrival. Of the dogmatic type, the latter has renewed the principles of his past experiences, in Barcelona or with Spain, with excessive possession, even if it means falling into sterility against low blocks, as in Milan. By starting from scratch, Paris has in any case initiated a new dynamic and this new guideline allows it to rely on something.