Paris Saint-Germain – RC Lens: Enrique Earns His First Victory (3-1)

The best of the bunch in France looked to one another in this game to find their flow from a few months ago. In the end, the ideas of new management would produce a pleasing performance for PSG, and an outcome that gives some serenity to a club that has endured enough unrest.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

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This fixture had been a top of the table clash at the end of last season, bringing together the best two outfits in Ligue 1. However, neither club have started the current campaign like they had envisaged.

The poisoned Parisian chalice forced Christophe Galtier out of the capital in a year. Luis Enrique is the latest man to try to sort out PSG— and he has been witness to the commotion at the club. Lionel Messi and Neymar have left, while Kylian Mbappé, one of 15 players banned from the tour to Japan, has entertained the idea of an exit to Real Madrid. An exodus of talent endeavored to place the effort of the eleven first and no longer the role of a few individuals, but it has come at the cost of two draws.

Although RC Lens only returned to the top flight in 2020, they have risen in the ranks thanks to their robust recruitment. The reward for repeated repairs to their squad in the last three years is entry into the Champions League for the first time in over two decades. Midfield motor Seko Fofana and sharp shooter Loïs Openda have fulfilled their service to the project. Do they represent two departures too many? One point from a possible six suggests this reconstruction may need more time than before.

Franck Haise has spearheaded this journey from the second tier all the way to second place behind the Parisians in three and a half years. He oversaw a 1-1 draw with Rennes last week and picked the same eleven players for this outing. One of the summer signings, Andy Diouf, sat in the double pivot with Salis Abdul Samed. Angelo Fulgini, Adrien Thomasson, and Florian Sotoca operated in the offense.

PSG only opened their account for the season against Toulouse once Ousmané Dembélé and Mbappé lent a helping hand. In the last few days, Gonçalo Ramos had suffered from muscular discomfort, and Kang-in Lee had picked up a quad injury— all the more reason for the two French forwards to start. They featured on either side of Marco Asensio, and Vitinha moved back into the middle of the park.

Lens lack the final step

Lens are the third outfit in a row to use a 5-4-1 shape against PSG this season. However, unlike the first two opponents of the league champions, who wished to sit off in a low block, the visitors were far more willing to push out and stop the favorites from getting into the final third. Deiver Machado was often higher on the right, and Facundo Medina shifted across to act as a fullback in a row of four.

15th minute: offensive sequence from Lens. Sotoca moves to the right of PSG’s defense. Vitinha wants to ensure Przemysław Frankowski is not free after the throw-in, signaling for Manu Ugarte to watch Abdul Samed, so Fulgini can drop diagonally towards the ball to offer for Przemysław Frankowski. Fulgini drops away further, loosing himself from Škriniar, and can pick out the wing-back’s run.

Enrique desires to control the game with the ball, so Lens could not keep possession for long periods. Yet, their structure showed promise with flashes of danger— either in transition from the high press or in the moments where they could build through the thirds. The wing-backs held the width on the flanks, and the inside forwards could drift near each other to combine with the help of a third player. The guests crept close to the penalty area but rarely created concrete chances during the first half.

Centering the stars

Indeed, the first thirty minutes were short on goalmouth action from either team, but the balance of weapons of destruction favored PSG. Mbappé and Dembélé were on opposite sides of the field but worked in tandem on the break around the half hour mark to rampage a way through Lens’ scramble defense. Though Brice Samba parried Mbappé’s strike, the dynamism and dribbling of these two men deserved the right to wreak havoc. Enrique wished to marry their tools with his typical approach.

Luis Enrique: “All the coaches want very high level players like Mbappé & Dembélé but it’s not only thanks to them, we also won thanks to Asensio, Vitinha, Warren, Marquinhos, Skriniar, Danilo when he came on, Lucas , everyone. All the players are important, we are a team.” 🗣️🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/Eo05ruMPk8

— PSG Report (@PSG_Report) August 26, 2023

Enrique modified the side’s structure with the ball from their first two matches. He no longer set out an asymmetric back four, in which Achraf Hakimi pushed higher, holding back both fullbacks in deeper positions. Dembélé stayed high and wide on the right, but Vitinha frequented the left flank. Mbappé could focus on threatening spaces behind the defense with his movements or take the freedom to combine in other areas with his teammates. This working relationship soon struck gold.

Vitinha flicked the ball to Mbappé, and Abdul Samed trailed in his wake, falling onto his haunches. Jonathan Gradit then tried to shadow the pair of blue shirts, allowing the midfielder to race over the halfway line. Zaïre-Emery eventually fed a pass into the path of Asensio on the edge of the box. The central forward shaped to shoot and fired beyond Brice Samba to score his first goal for his new club.

A combination on the same flank not long after the restart decisively doubled the advantage. Lucas Hernández channeled the spirit of his brother, breaking the lines from deep on the left. He connected with Vitinha and then Mbappé, advancing inward diagonally to arrive at the edge of the penalty area. Mbappé popped up outside the box, rifling a shot from the fullback’s cross into the back of the net.

Here is the goal from Kylian Mbappé pic.twitter.com/kXrGM8N99a

— Foot Actuality (@Foot_Actuality_) August 26, 2023

Powerful push to the finish line

Haise had little reason to refrain from risks at this stage. He had brought on Stijn Spierings and Julien Le Cardinal at half time, throwing Elye Wahi into the mix after the second goal. The forward could bring more depth to the offense, and his teammates were more willing to accept greater distances at the back to regain possession. However, PSG probed gaps in midfield and racked up opportunities.

74th minute: pressing sequence from Lens. The visitors commit even more aggressively here to a man-oriented pressing scheme than before. Zaïre-Emery completes a third man rotation to find Marquinhos, so Spierings jumps to close down the central defender. Medina then follows Asensio, who drops deeper in the halfspace and Le Cardinal tracks Vitinha inward. Dembélé and Mbappé stretch the pitch with their width, while the two advanced interiors can combine to escape pressure.

Enrique felt safe enough in the position to put three of his reserves from the bench onto the pitch after the 80th minute. Danilo Pereira joined Škriniar in the center of the defense, Fabián took the place of Dembélé as a right winger, and Carlos Soler replaced Zaïre-Emery. The hosts were still in control of the contest, adding a third goal for good measure. Fabián, Hakimi, and Asensio linked up on the right, setting up Mbappé. His shot bounced off two defenders, and Samba could not recalibrate his bearings.

A clean sheet at the Parc des Princes would still be elusive for the new manager. In the dying embers of injury time, Sotoca slipped past Hakimi and found Morgan Guilavogui in the box. The forward buried a consolation goal, thanks to a deflection off the back of Škriniar, and the efforts of Lens had not been wholly futile. Nevertheless, a margin of victory remained to reflect the strength of PSG.

Takeaways

PSG have taken five points from three league outings and are still unbeaten, only two adrift of the top of the table. Reactionary takes from their pair of draws look less plausible, and the reality that the title will likely stay in the capital sets back in. What matters most is a culture on and off the field that allows Enrique’s direction to inspire. The last 45 minutes of this display indicate he is on track.

On the other hand, Lens are yet to get going. The bravery of their approach illustrates a mindset that aspires to the heights they have hit in the past, but the quality of their opponents told. Haise’s men are in the bottom three, but one would think he has earned the right to sort out this outfit. However, the schedule is not on side. High flying Monaco await in their next fixture before the international break.

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