PSG vs Man City - tactical preview.

PSG are quite a flawed tactical outfit, and issues have reared their head in the second leg against Barca, and in both legs against Bayern. They have simply chosen to sit back & hit teams on the counter attack with their world class attackers.

Both Bayern and Barca created chances at will against their low block in the aforementioned games, and City will absolutely do the same. PSG defend in a block of 8 in a 4-4-2 shape with Verratti dropping a little deeper from the front 2 to cover for Neymar on the left at times.

If Verratti doesn't play, Neymar simply starts in the front 2. Anyway, defending in a block of 8 for large portions of the game against a team like Man City is a recipe for disaster because City excel at breaking down low blocks in this manner with their overloads on the flanks.

City play an on-ball shape of 3-2-4-1 where the inverted fullback (Cancelo/Zinchenko) will either A) be in the double pivot or B) push further up to partake in combination play on the flank. City typically aim to overload one side before creating or switching play to the isolated

creator such as Mahrez who can do devastating damage when combining with KDB and/or Walker or in 1v1 situations, especially with the time and space afforded after a switch of play against a 4-4-2 block.

This theme will be a constant in the game because PSG rarely press high.

This means that they allow the opposition to build out from the back from situations such as goal kicks so they can easily play forward & sustain pressure on PSG's block. However, when PSG do decide to press high, it's typically a poor press with little cohesiveness in the unit.

This means that when they press high, they do so without every player in tandem with the high press. So, for example, the forwards pressure the ball, but the midfielders don't pressurise the opposition midfielders in anticipation of them receiving, & the oppo can easily play out.

This was a common theme against both Bayern and Barca when PSG did try to press high in settled situations. However, this doesn't mean that PSG don't press effectively whatsoever. Let me explain:

PSG have elite technical quality in the build-up phase and did amazing to play out

of Bayern's press in the game in Paris. This enabled them to get up the pitch to either A) attack quickly through the pace of Mbappé, Neymar, and ADM, or B) force Bayern back into their consolidating block where PSG attempted to break it down. In situations where PSG attempted to

break down Bayern's block & failed, they counterpressed & were often successful when winning the ball back because they had players in close proximity & high up the pitch ready to press together as a cohesive unit. Neymar nearly scored from the counterpress on multiple occasions.

So, although I have spoken negatively of PSG's tactics, it doesn't mean they're not a top, top team, because they are, hence their KO of Bayern and Barca. Their technical quality when building out of a press enables them to attack teams in transitional situations + keep the ball

and break down the oppositions block, and they have 2 of the best players in the world to punish teams in these respective situations in Mbappé & Neymar, respectively.

This begs the question as to how good City are in defensive transition, within their low block & pressing wise.

City are generally compact when pressing. Their settled press has lately consisted of a 4-4-2 shape which is really good with typical pressing triggers, and their counterpressing is always really good thanks to their top positional play and generally good depth management.

However, considering the inverted fullback has license to roam between the lines and interchange with the attackers out wide, this can potentially leave the other pivot player (Rodri/Fernandinho) isolated in midfield and left with too much space to cover.

So, if PSG are technically astute vs City's high press, they can potentially exploit this issue in defensive transition when the inverted fullback is caught too high up the pitch. However, even if the double pivot is in position and City are compact in defensive transition, PSG

still have elite quality in offensive transition with Mbappé, Neymar, and Di Maria capable of dribbling past a player, making a dangerous run, or picking out a defence splitting pass to discombobulate the entire transitional structure City have in place.

Another key aspect of the game is Guardiola's team selection. His team selections are unpredictable in the sense that sometimes he'll field a team without natural goalscorers, like he did against Dortmund, twice. Gundogan & Foden were their only penetrative players in both games.

Sure, the likes of Bernardo, KDB, Foden, Gundogan, and Mahrez are elite creatively and can all score goals themselves, but they're better with natural space attackers for them to feed, which is why starting at least one of Sterling, Jesus or Aguero (least likely) is imperative.

Overall, it's a complex tactical affair with lots of variables to consider. City will create chances, but so will PSG (despite being worse tactically). Again, it's one of those games where the likelihood of each team winning is quite similar, just like Madrid & Chelsea last night