OGC Nice – Paris Saint-Germain: Mbappé’s Return Launches PSG’s Season (0-3)

After a difficult domestic start following the Champions League final, PSG finally showed more quality and efficiency in this performance against Nice. Patrick Vieira’s ambitious plan was interesting from a tactical point of view, but it was not enough to beat Kylian Mbappé and Keylor Navas.

Tactical analysis and match report by Simon Piotr

It was an out-of-form PSG travelling to the French Riviera on Sunday. Having suffered two defeats in a row before a miraculous victory with Draxler tapping a rebound in at the last minute against Metz (PSG being nine against eleven!), the Parisians were not exactly in their best form before playing Nice, and the numerous injuries and players infected with Covid did not help either.

Tuchel chose to set his team up in the same 4-4-2 formation, explaining before the game that the team does not have enough time to work tactically due to the dense calendar, and therefore he is sticking to what the players still know from last season. With Neymar, Leandro Paredes and Juan Bernat missing, the starting eleven was composed of Marco Verratti and Idrissa Gueye in midfield, Julian Draxler and Ángel Di María as left and right offensive midfielders, and the duo Kylian Mbappé - Mauro Icardi up front.

As for the hosts, the beginning of their season was a bit particular, to say the least. The team had two victories and one defeat but was not really convincing in play. Nice were relying quite heavily on a statistical anomaly during that spell having scored five goals out of … five shots on target. Of course this is not a rational and viable . . .

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