Riolo explains why PSG cannot play with 4 offensive players

Daniel Riolo was at the microphone of RMC Sport this Sunday night to give his opinion, in particular, on the defeat of Paris Saint-Germain against Stade Rennais at Roazhon Park (2-0, find the summary here) as part of the ninth matchday of Ligue 1 2021-2022. The sports journalist in particular indicated what makes PSG unable to field 4 offensive players at the moment.

“I heard that we can say that Paris played a dilettante, but they had the opportunities. Going back to the history of the organization and the famous 4-2-4, we fantasize about the fact that Di María returns to the center of the field … But we never see it.

Riolo “this system puts Gueye and Verratti in difficulties. “

The problem with this system is that it puts Gueye and Verratti in trouble. No, not physically, they are not comfortable in this system. So you can always tell the front foursome they can give it a try, but the middle two don’t like it! Verratti in front of defense as against City is very good, but three in the middle, not two! It doesn’t put Gueye or others in a good mood. “

We cannot totally exclude a system due to a coincidence, especially since the latter could have turned out very differently with efficiency. If Paris had put his chances in the first half, perhaps the offensive potential of the composition would stand out. In addition, PSG have already played with 4 offensive players and have done good performances. We can also think of Bayern Munich playing 4-2-3-1 with non-defensive profiles in their front quartet. Except you need the right mindset for that.

We saw clearly against Rennes that if the 4 attackers do not defend, then the rest of the team is in difficulty. This is to recover the ball, but also to get it out since the attackers are far from the defense. Much is possible with the Parisian squad, except that nothing will work if the attackers are unsuccessful and do not provide the defensive efforts. This does not necessarily require coming to defend in the 30 meters of Paris. Rather, it can be a pressure that allows the whole team to play higher overall and collect interesting balls. A first effort that must come from the offensive line. We have obviously seen very little against Rennes.