is the capital club better without Neymar?

PSG has recovered without him. Since his serious ankle injury against Lille on February 19, Neymar has witnessed his team’s benchmark victory in Marseille (3-0) from a distance, then the party at the Parc des Princes after the success against Nantes on Saturday (4 -2). Monday, the end of his season was pronounced, with the announcement of his next operation. Unsurprisingly, Paris will have to do without him in the Champions League round of 16 return to Bayern Munich on Wednesday March 8. But not a voice is there to lament his absence.

In a press conference on the eve of this crucial match, Christophe Galtier, the coach of the capital club, was even asked if his team was simply not better without the Brazilian. The latter was not shocked by the question and, trying to defend him, even made a mistake twice about his player’s statistical record by revising it downwards: “I hear and read the debate around Ney. The first unfortunate is him. He is injured and seriously injured. Believe me, it is a handicap for the team. We are talking about a player who has scored 17 goals and provided 11 assists since the start of the season (he is at 18 goals and 17 assists in reality). When I read that it’s so much the better, no. He is a player who, since I have been at the club, has been very professional. He had a difficult post-World Cup period, but, I repeat, it’s 17 goals and 11 assists. Having him on the pitch is an extra asset to score goals.”

The perfect culprit

As before the victory against Nantes, the coach did not give the impression of losing an irremovable element of his group. On the contrary, he acknowledged once again that his team “was more balanced” now that Neymar is on the floor. Last Friday, he was already noting the progress of his players, taking as a reference the convincing success at the Vélodrome: “[Face à Marseille], our team block was much more compact and much denser. We won a lot more duels than usual.” So, inevitably, when everything is better in the capital, the absentees are always wrong.

Despite his successful season – he was PSG’s most decisive player when he left through injury against Lille (35 times in 29 games) – Neymar has again been the target of criticism for several weeks. The Brazilian quickly became the ideal culprit at this gloomy start to the year 2023 for the capital club. He was, for example, the only one of the three Parisian stars present during the debacle in Monaco (1-3), three days before the defeat against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes (0-1), during which he did not not shine, and especially paid the contrast with the contribution of Kylian Mbappé.

The next day, photos of him participating in a poker tournament and then posing in front of a fast food restaurant with friends and some teammates, angered many observers. Enough to revive the usual criticisms of his lifestyle, so much so that when he was evacuated on a stretcher against Lille, his ankle injury was not analyzed as a stroke of fate. For the fifth time since arriving in Paris in August 2017, Neymar withdrew during the crucial February-March period.

Solution in spite of himself

But to say that Neymar was PSG’s problem, that he was weakening the team, is wrong. The collective turned out very well until October with the three players of the attacking trio, beating Lille (7-1) and outclassing Juventus (2-1), with a Neymar perhaps even above the melee. His absence above all removed a thorn from the side of his trainer. Christophe Galtier, who has always lined up his three attacking stars together whenever they were all available, now has greater tactical freedom. Without “Ney”, he was able to reshape his device by withdrawing an offensive to densify his midfield; a change which has largely borne fruit against OM and which will be renewed on Wednesday.

PSG are no better without Neymar, but his absence has solved some of their problems. Since the first leg against Bayern, Paris has recovered its edge thanks to the return to form of Kylian Mbappé, the only player capable of taking depth and improving Lionel Messi’s passes. Without Neymar, the Argentinian has a lot more freedom in the creative zone and his lack of defensive involvement is less noticeable since there are no longer two but three working in the middle.

Thanks to the return of the tactical system that made the heyday of the capital club at the start of the season, with three central defenders and two pistons, Paris has regained collective coherence. The two side Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi procrastinate less when they have the opportunity to go up, making their burst of speed speak. But nothing says that this solution is enough to overthrow Bayern Munich at home and that it leads Paris to the European coronation. And we must not forget that PSG have never been closer to winning the Champions League than when the keys to its animation were given to Neymar in the summer of 2020.