Paris Saint-Germain's magic of getting rid of superstars, making the team stronger
Paris Saint-Germain's magic of getting rid of superstars, making the team stronger
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On May 18, Manchester City ruined this season. Going beyond winning the league, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League is all too thin. Ballon d'Or winner Rodri left the club due to an injury, and Phil Foden, last season's Player of the Year, fell into a deep slump. Kevin De Bruyne's aging also stood out. If the aces fail to fulfill their duty, even Pep Guardiola, the coach of the world, must have no choice.
Paris Saint-Germain lost Kylian Mbappe in the summer of 2024. At the age of 18, he won the FIFA World Cup, and at the second World Cup, the superstar who scored the hat trick in the finals has disappeared. Will PSG be able to fill the void as the world's best striker? Parisian's answer to this question seems dignified.
PSG's performances by competition during the 2024-2025 season are as follows. It confirmed its victory on Apr. 6 in Ligue 1. It had six matches left and was unbeaten in 28 matches until then. It beat Monaco 1-0 in the Super Cup in January. The team is scheduled to play the final match of the French Cup (Coup de France) at dawn on May 25 and the UEFA Champions League final match at dawn on June 1. If Paris does not stop running, PSG will become the second European Quadruple (four wins in the season including the Champions League) club in 57 years since Celtic in the 1966-1967 season. It sold Mbappe after Messi, Neymar, and Ramos, but PSG has become stronger.
Fourteen years ago in 2011, Qatari Sports Investment (QSI) took over PSG. It was his strategic decision to promote the 2022 FIFA World Cup and improve the country's national image. The Middle East has a lot of wealth. Starting with coach Carlo Ancelotti, big-name players gathered in Paris, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ciagou Silva, Edinson Cavani and Angel Dimaria. PSG instantly became a regular in the Champions League, the most prestigious club in Europe.
However, PSG faced hardships at every critical juncture. The round of 16 teams in the 2016-2017 season was symbolic. PSG defeated Barcelona 4-0 in the first home match. Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez seemed likely to beat the huge players, but PSG's dream melted down in the second away match with a crushing defeat of 1-6.
QSI's response was immediate. They completely lost Neymar and Messi. With the recruitment of Monaco's divinity Kylian Mbappe, PSG continued to break the record for the highest transfer fee ever in European soccer. It was a huge investment to make an opponent who cannot beat him, completely on his side. However, that method did not work either. PSG had Messi, Neymar, Sergio Ramos, and Gianluigi Donnarumma in the lead, but failed to fulfill their wish to win the Champions League. In the 2020 final, PSG succumbed to Bayern Munich, the strongest team in Germany.
Time has passed and December 2022 has come. Qatar successfully hosted the FIFA World Cup. After finishing their national matches, Qatar and the QSI changed the direction of PSG operation significantly. It abolished the Galactico policy that gathered spectacular stars. In the summer of 2023, almost all superstars except Mbappe left the team, including Messi, Neymar, and Ramos.
"I'll guarantee the director's time"
Luis Enrique, who has newly taken the helm, has recruited a large number of young and talented players. Lee Kang-in, Bradley Barcola, Manuel Ugarte, Goncalo Hamus, and Lucas Beraldu were all players under the age of 22. Warren Zaire Emery, a 17-year-old French newcomer, was also appointed. With the departure of Mbappe, the last member of Galactico in the summer of 2024, the star player strategy was completely over. It was time for youth.
Coach Luiz Enrique added João Neves (20), Desiree Doue (19), and Willian Pacho (23) to his team ahead of his second season as coach. "Coach Nasser Al-Khelaifi declared to the players, "The coach will exercise his full power. And I will guarantee the coach the maximum amount of time." It was a bluff because superstars like Mbappé, Messi and Neymar, which the club had to monitor, were gone. Coach Luiz Enrique strengthened the training for young players. He emphasized overall movements to enhance the intensity of training and to make the build-up of attacks more organizational than individual capabilities. The young PSG chose to abandon the methodology of maximizing the individuality of superstars and play as one team.
PSG's attack power, which was focused on superstars, began to be evenly distributed. In the 2022-2023 season, Mbappe, Messi, and Neymar had 120 attack points (scoring + assisting). This is equivalent to 62.1 percent of the 193 total teams. Mbappe scored 41 goals, Messi scored 21 goals, Neymar scored 18, followed by Carlos Soler, who scored only six goals. In the 2023-2024 season, when two South American superstars disappeared, the scorers diversified, but the Mbappe concentration was still severe. Mbappe scored a total of 54 offensive points, including 44 goals and 10 assists. That was 36 more than Usman Dembele, the second-most in the team.
Let's see how this season goes. Dembele scored 44 offensive points with 33 goals and 11 assists. Barcola scored 35 (19 goals and 16 assists), while Due (13 goals and 11 assists) and Hamus (18 goals and 6 assists) accumulated 24 statistics each. Since then, a whopping six players, including Lee Kang-in, will be deployed in 10 to 19 offensive points. This means that the tasks that have been handled by superstars have been distributed among various players. It is not common for teams to produce as many as 10 offensive points in double digits in a single season. Manchester City had six and Tottenham had five. Liverpool had eight players, with Mohamed Salah (56), the highest number of offensive points, more than double that of Cody Hakpo (23), who was ranked second. 바카라사이트
As they become younger, PSG has transformed into a team that plays non-stop. Passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA) is a measure of a team's pressure. It refers to the number of pass connections that a team has allowed to an opponent while recording a single defensive action (tackle, take away the ball, etc.). If the number is less than 12, the team will be classified as an "forward pressure team."