Time for Unai Emery and PSG to Dump the 4-3-3 After Marseille Disappointment

On Sunday night, Paris Saint-Germain were held to a goalless draw by Olympique de Marseille in the first Le Classique of the season.

It wasn’t a great game, and the word "classic" won’t be mentioned in the same breath as the match that was endured at the Parc de Princes.

Part of that was the tactics used by new Marseille boss Rudi Garcia, but some of the blame has to go to PSG manager Unai Emery and the way he set up his side on Sunday.

There was something of a surprise when he named Adrien Rabiot in the starting lineup, despite it being well deserved. He has been easily one of PSG’s best midfielders this season and gives the play through the middle a little unpredictability—in a positive sense.

Sadly, Emery undid that good work by naming Thiago Motta beside him—as many fans commented during the game. When a team like Marseille turn up in Paris, playing a 5-3-2 formation like they did, it’s clear you are going to see the home team controlling possession, and it is going to either take a mistake or a great pass to pick apart a stubborn back line.

"I think the team played very well and controlled the match. We created a number of chances, but unfortunately we failed to put one away,” Emery told press after the game. "Even if the result wasn’t the one we were hoping for, the players played well. We often have to play against sides defending very deep and in numbers. Despite that, we managed to create a number of chances, even if we didn’t manage to score. We still have to fine-tune a few things, but we are on the right track."

PSG, according to WhoScored, had 17 shots on Sunday night. Eight of them were blocked and just three made it on target. The greatest chance fell to Edinson Cavani, but the Uruguayan striker pushed it wide. He should have scored, and that was easily the best chance they managed to put together.

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on compense avec edi pic.twitter.com/TMZkf6k5dB

— philippe (@philousports) October 23, 2016"

There has to come a time, soon, when Emery gives up on this turgid 4-3-3, especially when playing at the Parc des Princes.

Injury to Javier Pastore has taken away his most natural No. 10 playmaker, but with a bit of inventiveness and outside-the-box thinking, you could make this PSG team more unpredictable, more dynamic and hopefully a much better watch than they currently are.

Emery was far too quick to ditch his 4-2-3-1 formation. It doesn’t have to be as rigid as playing two attacking wingers on the flanks, either. Blaise Matuidi showed he can play on the left of the three with ease. It opens up a more fluid style, too.

All too often, Angel Di Maria and Lucas Moura out wide has become stale. Both move inside; it’s predictable. They are rarely a threat to get on the end of crosses, so defenders can allow the full-backs time and space to put in crosses, knowing they only have to stop Cavani from getting on the end of them.

There is a case for suggesting Marco Verratti could play with Rabiot beside him as the two holding midfielders. Both can defend and win the ball back, and both are more than capable of pushing into the attack.

Matuidi can play wide left, and then you have the option of going 4-3-3 if you need an extra body in midfield, without losing any width or quality from the flanks.

What that would also do is put a bit of pressure on Di Maria and Lucas. They look out of sorts, and perhaps a lack of competition in the front three has caused complacency.

"I don't like talking about a 'first-choice lineup’,” Emery said when questioned about the midfield selection before the Marseille game. “I prefer that all of the players are ready to play. Sometimes some players are better than others at certain times of the season.”

It’s all well and good saying that, but it’s clear that when he plays three up front, Di Maria, Lucas and Cavani is his preferred option. Why not give them a reason to believe they might not automatically be picked? That threat of being dropped is often crucial in getting the best out of the forwards.

Even last season, when you threw Zlatan Ibrahimovic into the mix, someone had to drop out and that helped spur them on. That threat, with the other options being Hatem Ben Arfa and Jese Rodriguez, has almost been taken away.

You could even continue to play all three, but move Di Maria and Lucas so that one is on the right and the other is in the centre. They are both capable of playing that role, and the change of formation and tactic could help them. It would also give Emery the chance to find more minutes for Ben Arfa in his preferred position.

You really don’t need Motta in games like that. He made just one pass in the final third on Sunday and you can guarantee that not many of his 133 passes were forward thinking, or looking to create anything.

The Italian does a great job of letting the game tick along, but that’s not always needed or welcome in these types of fixtures. You need players that can break down stubborn defences, not a defensive destroyer that is more like a third centre-back than a central midfielder.

"Even if there wasn’t much space, we still played well and created chances. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t...that’s football,” said Motta after the game, trying to defend the performance. “But we’re disappointed because we really wanted to win this match at home to Marseille, in front of our supporters. It’s a shame, because I think we deserved more."

Motta has his role in the UEFA Champions League games. Breaking up attacks, keeping possession, just not in a game where keeping the ball is the easiest thing they will have to do.

Too often on Sunday, when PSG were looking to build attacks, there was a huge gap in the centre of the park, somewhere you would want a creative attacking option. Rabiot and Verratti tried a few times to make it work, but they were outnumbered and closed down quickly. With a lack of viable options to pick out, the attacks quickly died and the chance was lost.

The thought was, when Emery arrived from Spain, he would bring a new look to this PSG team. A different way of thinking. The ability to play 4-2-3-1, switch to 4-3-3, or play those formations with a different spin to what Laurent Blanc offered as coach.

So far we haven’t seen anything like it. The play has been rigid and lacking creativity, everything that brought criticism towards Blanc.

The sign of champions is to play bad and get the results; a 0-0 draw at home to Marseille is not in any way the sign of champions. At this stage of the season, the quarter-finals of the Champions League look like a dream rather than the minimum requirement for Emery and his team.