Thiago Motta's Performances Are Hindering PSG Creatively and Defensively

Football is a business full of short memories. It was only last week that Paris Saint-Germain threw away a lead against Arsenal—plus a whole host of chances—to draw in their opening Champions League fixture.

The six-goal win over Caen on Friday night was followed by Tuesday’s midweek fixture against Dijon FCO. The newly promoted side should have offered little in the way of a challenge, and the 3-0 victory suggests it was a routine night for the champions.

In only their second visit to the capital, Dijon won’t want to travel back in a hurry. A 2-0 defeat in the league in 2011 was followed up by a Coupe de la Ligue win, Coupe de France loss and a league defeat at the Stade Gaston Gerard.

Olivier Dall’Oglio’s team wouldn’t have been expecting to leave the French capital with a result, but for their first visit in nearly four years, they gave a good account of themselves and were a little unfortunate.

Despite the three goals, it was a far-from-impressive performance from PSG. The away side actually matched PSG boss Unai Emery’s team for shots on goal—four on target—and will go back to Burgundy with positives.

Maxwell’s opening goal was a cross, taking a deflection off Adam Lang—on his debut—and dropping over Baptiste Reynet’s head. Then a poor tackle from Jordan Loties handed PSG a penalty for the second.

Both avoidable, both poor goals to concede from Dijon’s perspective.

From there, the game was over, and Lucas Moura would head in the third in the second half, getting on the end of Maxwell’s cross.

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For the Spanish coach, with a few players missing through injury, and Hatem Ben Arfa not included in the matchday squad again, it was a chance to get a look at some of his other options. One of them stood out, and his ability is limiting PSG’s performance, especially in the final third.

Now 34 years old, Thiago Motta took his place in the midfield beside Adrien Rabiot and Javier Pastore, and although he is an able passer in the middle of the park, he is adding little to the overall display.

Early in the game, you could see the Italian dropping into the defence to make a back three to allow Thomas Meunier and Maxwell attack down the flanks.

However, when you play someone like Pastore in a midfield three, it negates the point in playing Motta. Especially during the first half when, with the game goalless, the Argentinian was regularly dropping deep to pick up the ball.

Too often his passes were long efforts over the top. Pastore, just like Motta, is capable of making those passes. Yet, when you rely on killer balls from that area, you reduce the percentage that will likely be successful.

PSG are much better when playing with tempo, higher up the pitch, and that’s really where Pastore needs to be—or at least where he needs to be picking up the ball.

Although he has enjoyed a long and storied career, Motta is no longer offering anything more than another body in the midfield. According to WhoScored, no one made more touches than Motta; 133 times to Pastore's 100. The elder of the two completed 97 percent of his passes, with the Argentinian's percentage at 86.

The difference between the two was that Pastore made three key passes. One of them came in the buildup to Lang's own goal and another during the attack that put Rabiot into the box to win the penalty.

In long passes, the accuracy was about the same, completing 15 between them. This backs up the point that they can really do the same job. What the Italian is meant to bring to the team is defensive stability, but that didn’t happen on Tuesday.

As mentioned, Dijon had eight shots on goal; the closest they came was when former Newcastle United midfielder Mehdi Abeid smashed a shot off the woodwork.

In the buildup, before the centre-backs had a chance to step up, the Algeria international played a one-two around Motta. The Italian was as useful as a statue. Against Dijon, there is a good chance you won’t get punished, but playing better teams—especially in the Champions League—he’s just not at the level to compete anymore.

"It’s always good to keep a clean sheet," goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was relieved to tell the official website after the game. "The coach asked us to defend well and not concede tonight. We did that and I hope we continue to do so. We wanted to bounce back after the Monaco result and we have been working very hard. We need to keep working now and fine tune the little details."

Emery will be delighted with the clean sheet, but PSG did not defend well as a team. Letting Dijon take eight shots, four of which were on target, is not good enough, especially at home.

Playing the likes of Dijon in Ligue 1, when you line up in the 4-3-3 formation, it’s fine to play Pastore in the midfield, but you need to look to someone like Marco Verratti—who was in the stands—or Grzegorz Krychowiak as the player to sit.

This is a difficult time for Emery to balance his squad, with games coming thick and fast. They play Toulouse on Friday and then the Champions League comes around again.

The Spanish coach would have wanted to give Pastore more time on the pitch following his injury, but in this home game, playing 4-2-3-1 would have been better suited to fit the players selected.

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Rabiot and Motta could have held the midfield, allowing Pastore to play his more natural No. 10 role and let him drift and combine with Angel Di Maria and Lucas.

With Pastore allowed to play further forward, PSG might not have had to rely on a fortunate own goal and a penalty to gain the lead against Dijon.

Motta should now be considered a last resort. He is a great influence to have around the club, and a new arrival such as Krychowiak will learn from him.

Game management is important when the minutes begin to pile up, but Emery still needs to get his selections right. As it showed against Monaco, the better teams in this league can still cause his defence problems.

Motta is no longer a help; more often than not, he is becoming a hindrance. PSG can still use him, but it needs to be in a way to impact someone like Pastore in a positive manner—not negatively like Tuesday’s win over Dijon.