Zonal Marking Team Focus: PSG

Look at the statistics from PSG’s season in relation to other Ligue 1 clubs, and it’s difficult to see exactly where they excel. They have the third-highest average possession, the fourth-highest pass completion rate, the third-most shots, and the fourth-most shots on target. All good figures, but it doesn’t completely illustrate why they are joint-top, and favourites for the title – precisely what do they do better than the other title challengers?

Perhaps that’s appropriate for PSG, for they are effectively a side of very good individuals, rather than a cohesive unit. The best team – in the true sense of the word – is clearly Montpellier. Others, such as Lille, also look more harmonious than PSG. But the capital club simply has better players than anyone else – the likes of Nene, Javier Pastore and Jeremy Menez are in a class that only Lille’s Eden Hazard, Marseille’s Mathieu Valbuena and (in theory) Lyon’s Yoann Gourcuff can aspire to. The acquisitions of Alex, Maxwell and Thiago Motta are not in the same class, but are still the type of player other Ligue 1 clubs struggle to sign.

The most striking figure from PSG’s season is their ‘shots conceded per game’ statistic. That is 12.9, the 14th best in the league, an amazing number for the joint-leaders at this stage of the season. There are a few reasons for this, but the blame must lie primarily with the attackers, who do no work defensively. In the 4-2-3-1 shape that both Antoine Kombouare and Carlo Ancelotti have generally used, the attacking band of three – Menez, Pastore and Nene – are allowed to wonder back in the vague direction of their own goal, without really getting into helpful defensive positions. It leaves the defensive work to six players, and opponents can often find gaps and space for a shot, especially when the two holding players have been dragged out of position.

This is partly why Ancelotti prefers a 4-3-2-1 system. This brings the obvious benefit of an extra holding midfielder, and though the three attacking players still do little without the ball, at least makes the balance 7:3 rather than 6:4. There’s an argument, though, that this is a temporary solution rather than a permanent answer, and in the long-term the likes of Nene and Menez need to get back and defend the wide zones properly. The best teams attack and defend with almost the whole team, whereas PSG have too much of a split.

A secondary problem has been the lack of a consistent centre-back pairing. Uruguayan Diego Lugano, excellent in the 2010 World Cup and 2011 Copa America, has been a disappointment. Zoumana Camara was a regular under Kombouare but hasn’t started since Ancelotti took charge, while youth product Mamadou Sakho has been the main man but missed two months due to injury early in the season. The signing of Alex from Chelsea was an astute purchase, and he has brought aerial strength at the back, as well as his usual threat from free-kicks. He and Camara are a good partnership, but six games without a clean sheet indicates there are still issues with the defending from higher up.

Another problem solved in the January transfer window was the lack of a reliable passing midfielder. Momo Sissoko possesses plenty of strength but is average with the ball, while Blaise Matuidi is an excellent player and good technically, but tends to shuttle forward (which is important to the side – he’s often the main link between defence and attack). PSG lacked a calm, reliable distributor of the ball. Their player with the best pass completion rate is Clement Chantome, on 88.4 %, but he rarely starts. Now, Thiago Motta has come into the side and plays that role expertly. He’s averaged 70.7 passes per game so far – PSG’s next-best player is Nene down on 48, illustrating how much Motta’s constant, reliable distribution was needed.

The three stars are Nene, Pastore and Menez, but they’re also Ancelotti’s biggest problem. Though he favours the 4-3-2-1, those three necessitate a 4-2-3-1. Individuals are being picked despite disturbing the balance of the side. There are two ways they could play in a 4-3-2-1 – Ancelotti has spoken of Pastore playing deeper in midfield, and there has also been a brief experimentation with either Menez or Nene as a false nine, but both seem unnatural.

In the 4-2-3-1, PSG are often too direct when they get the ball to one of those three attackers. All three are in Ligue 1’s 15 most-frequently successful dribblers, but all three are also among Ligue 1’s 10 most-frequently dispossessed players.

There’s also an interesting debate upfront between Guillaume Hoarau and Kevin Gameiro. There’s an obvious difference in style – Hoarau is 22 centimetres taller and 16 kilograms heavier, and the statistics support a simplified but largely accurate categorisation of a ‘strong but limited big man’ and a ‘tricky but lightweight small man’. Hoarau wins more aerial duels per game (3.2 – 0.3), but Gamiero has a better pass completion rate (77% - 60%). Hoarau spent a long period out injured, allowing Gameiro a consistent run in the team – but now Hoarau finds himself the first-choice. It’s debatable whether his style suits the system – PSG don’t play many crosses – and he’s better when he has more support. His recent goals have tended to come in the final ten minutes, after PSG have thrown on other attackers to give him more space. His equaliser against Bordeaux at the weekend came when Gameiro had been introduced alongside him – he was never going to get any joy playing upfront alone against Bordeaux’s back three.

It seems odd to be relatively negative about PSG when they are joint-top, and when Ancelotti is still unbeaten in the league. At the top we wondered where PSG excelled, and the truth is in individuals – Nene has provided more key passes than any player in Ligue 1, Pastore has played the most through-balls, and Menez is joint-top of the assist charts. The more they excel, the more they become difficult to drop, but the more the overall system might suffer.