PSG vs. Inter Milan: 3 Things Laurent Blanc Should Test in Friendly Game

Paris Saint-Germain will play their final match of 2014 at the Grand Stade de Marrakech in Morocco against Italian side Inter Milan on Tuesday.

While the timing is questionable, particularly given how tired some of the French champions’ players have looked over the first part of the season, it is a good fixture for manager Laurent Blanc to test a few new ideas.

Le President has a number of areas concerning him at present, notably the centre of defence, defensive midfield and the attacking unit.

Although the Frenchman should not take the game too seriously and rotate his PSG team throughout the match, it is a valuable chance to test a few tactical alterations against a good European opponent.

The French champions have their first match of 2015 coming up against the same team they finished their competitive 2014 campaign against, Montpellier HSC, but away from home in the Coupe de France.

Defeat in that competition would be a poor start to the calendar year, so Blanc needs to wipe the slate clean and get his team in a positive mindset ahead of their trip to Altrad Stadium next week.

Here are three things PSG coach Blanc should try during the Inter friendly.

3. Test David Luiz in Defensive Midfield

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Thiago Motta’s performances in the PSG midfield have simply not been good enough during the first half of the season. At 32 years of age, it is not likely that the Italian will scale the same giddy heights as last term again in his career.

Because of this, Blanc needs to find new options in midfield to replace the ageing Azzurri man.

With questions being asked of Les Parisiens’ central defenders as well, now could be an opportune moment for to coach to make two sizeable changes.

Bringing Luiz into the midfield in place of Motta would take away the metronomic passing ability and the cerebral qualities that the Italian brings; however, PSG would gain some much-needed dynamism with the Brazilian, and the team should become more attack-minded.

2. Pair Marquinhos with Thiago Silva in Defence

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If Luiz was to step into the defensive midfield position currently inhabited by Motta, then that would present Marquinhos with an opportunity to make the central defensive berth alongside captain Thiago Silva his own.

The talented youngster can consider himself unlucky to be out of the regular starting XI in the first place, after an untimely injury derailed a sensational start to the season. This opportunity to re-establish himself in Blanc’s first-choice team would be no less than the 20-year-old deserves.

With both Silva and Luiz struggling to convince of late, the Inter clash is the perfect scenario in which to give Marquinhos his latest chance.

1. Pair Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Another Striker in the Middle

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If Blanc can start to solve his defensive and midfield headaches by moving Luiz into Motta’s deep-lying position, then the biggest issue that will be left to solve is that of goalscoring.

The 4-3-3 that Blanc treasures so much has not been working of late; however, with some tweaking, a PSG in a 4-4-2 diamond could work.

Now that Les Parisiens have confirmed that neither Ezequiel Lavezzi nor Edinson Cavani will join the squad in Morocco, per PSG.fr (in French), Blanc knows that he has limited options; however, this could be to his advantage.

A 4-4-2 diamond, with Javier Pastore playing behind a front pairing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lucas Moura, would arguably make PSG more effective in front of goal over the second half of the season, and Jean-Christophe Bahebeck could also step in for either striker.

It is also a system that could incorporate Lavezzi and Cavani if the squad is brought together intact once again in January.