Why Edinson Cavani Is Under Most Pressure for PSG Following Draw with Monaco

When you spend €64 million on a top-class striker, you expect results, there is a certain amount of expectation that comes from that sort of fee. Right now, Edinson Cavani is failing to live up to his reputation.

After failing to score for Paris Saint-Germain against AS Monaco in Sunday’s 1-1 draw, Cavani is now under pressure to deliver in front of goal. However, the problem for the Uruguayan striker is that he looks a shell of the player which scored 16 goals last season and 72 over three seasons for Napoli in Serie A.

Back on the 21st of September, PSG left-back Lucas Digne delivered a beautiful left-foot cross into the box against Lyon. With only 20 minutes gone, Cavani had ghosted in between the OL defence and with authority, headed the ball past Anthony Lopes.

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You could see the passion and the enjoyment on Cavani’s face, and it looked like he was back, this was the look that had been missing from El Matador. Games against Caen, Toulouse, Barcelona and Monaco have followed that night in the Parc de Princes, and in each game Cavani has failed to find the back of the net.

Ninety minutes of goalless action against Monaco took the counter up to 394 minutes without a goal, and with it you can see the confidence continue to drain from the striker.

At the end of last season, per Tim Oscroft of Sky Sports, Cavani was quick to talk about a change in tactics for PSG: He wanted to play a more central role, hoping that it would get the best out of his performances. But whenever Blanc has given the striker that chance, Cavani has more often than not failed to impress.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has missed the last four games with a heel problem, it was the perfect opportunity for Cavani to step up and show Blanc that he could be the main attacking option for this club. Failing to score in all four games puts somewhat of a cloud over his future in Paris.

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With Ibrahimovic in the team, Cavani would start in one of the wider roles, but as he showed against Lyon, with his partner dropping deep and roaming the pitch, the space is always there to make runs from outside to in, losing his marker and creating space to cause problems.

It was actually the perfect scenario for Cavani, not being the No.1 striker helps him in this system, it makes it easier for him to get free and the focus is not totally on his performances.

Cavani now has a problem. Against Caen, Barcelona and Monaco, the 27-year-old forward was out-performed by his fellow attackers. Lucas Moura scored a superb goal against Caen, tormented Jordi Alba against Barcelona and scored PSG’s goal to open the scoring against Monaco.

Playing in the No.10 role, Javier Pastore has looked a player reborn, easily Man of the Match against Monaco and his work rate and performance against Barcelona was nothing short of excellent.

Both have shown that they can step up in Ibrahimovic’s absence, but Cavani has left a huge question mark hanging over his head.

The Swedish striker announced recently that he will likely retire in 2016, which gives PSG two years to make plans post-Zlatan. As it stands, Cavani has shown that he is not able to carry that mantle, if he doesn’t improve, PSG would have to look elsewhere, possibly even looking to move the forward on to raise funds.

Over the past five games, it is hard to criticise the effort that Cavani is putting in. He is chasing back to help out his defence, and he is working extremely hard to make PSG better, the problems occur when he gets in the final third.

Constantly he is making the wrong decisions, trying to cut onto his left or right foot, not making the right pass, trying to beat one player too many. It just doesn’t look like he knows what to do when the opportunities come to him.

Against Monaco he had two shots during the game, both lacked any conviction. There was clear lack of a killer instinct from a striker who used to bury nearly all clear chances that came his way.

Thibault Camus/Associated Press

The icing on the cake came in the second half against Monaco. Through on goal down the left channel, he had a clear sight on goal, but instead of testing Danijel Subasic, Cavani completely fluffed his lines, the ball merely trickling behind for a goal kick. It was an attempt that all but summed up his lack of self-confidence.

In the last five games, according to WhoScored, Cavani has attempted 15 shots on goal. He is getting into the right areas, the opportunities are coming to him, but with every passing chance he lets slip, you can see that belief, the instinct that defenders across Europe used to fear, is slowly slipping away.

Cavani’s teammates will continue to create chances for the forward, but it is only the player himself that can reignite the confidence inside of him.