Thread by @vybhavbadri

THE FLAWS OF PSG’s 4-3-3:
PSG vs City 2-0 Tactical Analysis
In the Recent CL Group stage clash, Pochettino’s PSG came out on top over Pep’s Man city. However, there were some repetitive flaws in Pochettino’s set up which will be something for Pochettino to resolve.

THREAD📜

In this thread, we will look at
1.the line ups of both teams
2.the on and off the ball tactical set ups
3.flaws in Poch’s set up
4.flaws after Second Half change

NOTE: this is a PSG centric thread.

1. THE LINE UPS:
Both lined up in a 4-3-3.
PSG fielded their deadly trio and 3 second phase midfielders.
Meanwhile, City lined up with two 8/10’s in KDB and Bernardo.
Pep went for Sterling up front who has been in and out of City’s side since KDB came back from injury last szn.

2. ON AND OFF THE BALL TACTICAL SET UPS:
On the ball, PSG played a traditional 4-3-3 with Verratti dropping to help build up. Herrera and Gueye, despite being 2nd phase midfielders, were in high positions and FBs wide.
Hence, Verratti was the only central pass in Build up

Notably, Neymar stayed wide to pin Walker opening passes to Mendes.
To counter this, City played a compact 4-3-3 block (due to Grealish tucking in and Mahrez pushing up to press Kimpembe)
In the high press, they were in a 4-2-3-1/3-3-1-3 depending on whether Messi's position.

on the ball, city built in a 2-3 build up shape with the FBs inverting, with the 8’s pushing up to form a front five.
PSG were in a 4-3-3 compact low block, with no real press
The midfielders shifted side to side to cover the flanks and they’d often be the ones pressing the FBs

3.ON BALL ISSUES TO RESOLVE:
The big problem for PSG was their ineffective build up due to Verratti being the only option. When city pressed, KDB was responsible for Verratti and front 3 pressed the CB’s and Gk if the Gk was involved in build-up, or the FBs and CB’s.

PSG’s 4-3-3 with 8s higher allowed City to press 4v4 which resulted in overreliance on Verratti’s elite press resistance.
City's 3-3-1-3/4-2-3-1 depending on the position of Neymar and Messi, allowed them to with numerical equality and win the ball.

https://twitter.com/Vybhav_Videos/status/1444145349837287424?s=20

In the clips, its clear that a double pivot would have been far more suitable as it would have overloaded city’s press and allowed PSG to progress a lot more often.
In the example shown, Gueye dropping from the high position results in one of PSG’s best chances.

Instead, PSG had Verratti, arguably the worlds most press resistant midfielder and still struggled to build effectively.
The off ball issues persisted during the match with the only real good thing PSG did was the chips to Mendes (a thorn in City's side in numerous matches)

4. OFF BALL ISSUES TO RESOLVE:
PSG didn’t have much of the ball and lacked an effective press and counter press to play higher up (nature of front 3) so it then was essential that they maintained a compact, infallible block so that they don’t get breached and can counter.

That wasn’t really the case with PSG’s 4-3-3 defence having 2 major issues.
1. Overloads out wide:
PSG’s 4-3-3 set up saw Neymar & Messi with little defensive work. So when the FB pushed up down the wing (mainly Cancelo), the FB, 8 and winger created a 3v2 vs PSGs FB and 8.

This happened mainly on City’s left and created gaps in PSG’s backline for city to get in behind as either Marquinhos was drawn across creating gaps b/w him and Kimpembe, or resulted in Hakimi/Mendes 2v1 and in isolations vs city's wingers.

https://twitter.com/Vybhav_Videos/status/1444145289447698432?s=20

2. Mahrez left in free space:
PSG’s back 4 was a man light vs city’s front 5.
No press + overloads in wide areas made this exploitable through switches off play.
Common theme was city building on the left before Switching to Mahrez who was in acres.

https://twitter.com/Vybhav_Videos/status/1444145385606246402?s=20

These issues came to a crescendo in the best City chance of the match city first used their 3v2 overload on the left to build down that side with Laporte bypassing Messi to find Cancelo.
City drew PSG across and then switch to Mahrez who was in open space.

He then used the front 5 by switching back to the left through KDB. Grealish’s gravity and PSG’s lethargy from being shifted in this manner created a pocket of space at the top of the box for KDB and a 3v3 at the back post.
Sterling and Bernardo hit the bar.

POCH’s TWEAK

Poch sought to curb Mahrez continually being in free space and did so by tasking Gueye with the role of dropping to the sides and marking him as an Auxillary LWB.
This resulted in PSG becoming a defacto 5-2-3 set up with Mendes at left CB and Gueye as an aux-LWB

There were some merits to this as PSG were able to control City’s front five dynamic a lot better due to the aux-back 5.
PSG also curbed the ball side wide overloads that City were creating without creating difficult to curb gaps in the back line.

https://twitter.com/Vybhav_Videos/status/1444145423594123265?s=20

The issues were that PSG were still in a 4-3-3 and Gueye was an aux-LWB
He'd end up in midfield often, particularly after City won the ball back as in transitions, he'd be in midfield.
It PSG open to switches off play from Right to left

https://twitter.com/Vybhav_Videos/status/1444145461372211208?s=20

not left to right like in the first half.
The other problem was that Mendes and Gueye weren’t suited to their roles, resulting in Mendes particularly on a couple of occasions not tracking runs, allowing runners to get beyond him.

https://twitter.com/Vybhav_Videos/status/1444145497715855367?s=20

Poch was also lucky because city wasn’t at their incisive best to exploit gaps and also lacked a real box threat to take advantage from crossing situations.
They also lacked transitional threats in the few counters that they did have.

If PSG play like this against the likes of LIV, CHE, BAYERN … they will have massive problems considering the transitional and cross threats of those teams.
Ive highlighted those in Particular as they can sustain pressure close to city's level but also have these added variants

POSSIBLE TACTICAL TWEAKS:

PSG would have been better off with 2 key tactical tweaks that would have curbed their system related issues.
1. Play a double pivot in build up as opposed to a lone
6.
2. Actual back five to curb wide overloads and front
5’s, not AUX-5's

Personnel related issues aside, Poch needs to solve these issues, the above are merely suggestions to what they could do to solve them, especially considering there are ingame examples of these changes proving fruitful.
Examples showed merit in a 3-4-3 with a 5-2-3 off ball block

PSG have the talent to win the CL.
Most dangerous front line on the planet.
Midfield and Defence have elite technical and Defensive Quality which allowed PSG to survive this match and win.
2 Top Keepers
It just remains to be seen whether they can be a cohesive team.

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