Tactically, PSG beat Le Mans 3-1 on Saturday, and the moment that interests me is the hour mark. Luis Enrique made four changes at once. Four. Kvaratskhelia came on and scored on his first touch, in the 61st, after a Fabian Ruiz shot that Le Mans goalkeeper Nicolas Kocik pushed out.
I opened my folder on Sunday morning, with a bowl of coffee, and looked at the PSG starting eleven. No Pacho, no Marquinhos, no Nuno Mendes, no Vitinha, no Doué, no Kvaratskhelia, no Dembélé. Some Sundays I start without seven first-choice players too. The difference is that at the hour mark he brings on one who scores on his first touch.
I’ve done the quadruple change. Once. Two were to go and pick up the kids, one was for the club delegate who had to lock up the bar. The fourth came on and got his first touch. From a throw-in, but he touched it.
Le Mans had equalised in the 54th through Louis Mafouta. Their manager, Patrick Videira, explained what happened next: “From the moment we equalised, we went into a form of euphoria and we lost that tactical discipline.” That I know by heart. At our place, we equalise, the whole team pushes up twenty metres, and in our case that’s uphill as well.
Akliouche made it 3-1 in the 68th, at the near post, his first goal for Paris. Luis Enrique said he was the best player on the pitch: “I like everything Maghnes Akliouche does: the way he plays as a striker, winger, midfielder, his technical and physical ability”. A player who covers three positions, I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is.
Silly question, but if you change four players at the same time, is it still the same team?
Dame Gueye hit the bar in the 71st, Doué missed a penalty in the 90+3. Three-one, third win in a row, fifth in the table, three points behind Monaco. On Wednesday they go to Manchester City.
It’s true, we checked: franceinfo.
