Zlatan Ibrahimovic Penalty Flatters Poor PSG Attack in Saint-Etienne Win

Paris Saint-Germain secured three massive points in the Ligue 1 title race with a narrow 1-0 win away at AS Saint-Etienne on Sunday night.

It was not pretty and it was a controversial decision to penalise ex-PSG man Jeremy Clement for a handball in the build-up to the goal, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 61st-minute penalty made the ultimate difference at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

"

7 - @Ibra_official has scored 7 goals against St Etienne in Ligue 1, more than against any other team. Hangman.

— OptaJean (@OptaJean) January 25, 2015"

The result moves Laurent Blanc’s men level on points with second-placed Olympique de Marseille and ensures that the French champions remain four points behind Saint-Etienne’s bitter rivals and table-toppers Olympique Lyonnais. It also creates a four-point cushion between Les Parisiens and the rest of the pack, led by Les Verts.

Blanc was delighted with the result when speaking with PSG.fr after the final whistle:

"

We played very well which enabled us to pick up the three points. We were the side that tried to play football, and we're very happy this evening with the result. We are still competing in four competitions and we'll see at the end if it is a good season for us. The scenario of the match was very good, Paris were always in control of the game. We came here with intentions to play football and the lads can be very happy with their performance tonight.

"

Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

Le Chaudron was bouncing for the visit of the capital club, who had won 1-0 there in a Coupe de la Ligue quarterfinal less than two weeks before, but the home crowd was quickly stifled.

The home support was not silenced by PSG coming out firing on all cylinders and taking the lead, they were instead muted by the sight of the titleholders suffocating the hosts and preventing them from getting the ball.

Blanc’s team dominated possession, as they usually do, but failed to really do anything with it. The first half was particularly tedious, with the visitors probing for openings and never making anything of them.

By the end of the game, PSG had out-shot Saint-Etienne 10 shots to nine, but only four of those 10 were even on target.

Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

Aside from one stand-out moment of magic, when substitute Javier Pastore brilliantly played in Edinson Cavani and the Urguayan watched a sublime chipped effort come back off the crossbar, the capital outfit were poor going forward.

Paul Baysse enjoyed a superb game at the heart of the Saint-Etienne defence, but the reason Stephane Ruffier only conceded once all evening had more to do with PSG’s wasteful finishing and, at times, inexistent creativity.

Once again, Ibrahimovic did not look comfortable up front and the fact that he scored the deciding goal only papers what was an extremely limited display from the Swede.

When the PSG No. 10 plays, a number of players have to be sacrificed. Javier Pastore is either dropped into central midfield or onto the bench (as was the case against Saint-Etienne), while Cavani is loosely deployed in a wide role.

Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

That sacrifice used to be worth making before Ibrahimovic's recent injuries, but right now, it is unclear that this risk is benefiting the team or its results.

Pastore, in particular, cannot keep making way for Zlatan. His brilliant pass to set up Cavani's chip that came back off the crossbar was an example of the sort of invention that Blanc's team were lacking in the final third to open up a tough home defence.

Had Clement not been penalised for a dubious handball, PSG would not have won. A lot of people will say “what goes around comes around” and compare the penalty won against Saint-Etienne to the harsh one Gregory van der Wiel conceded in the 4-2 defeat away at SC Bastia at the start of 2015.

However, the reality is that PSG had at least done enough in that game to warrant a penalty not making the difference. Ultimately, it did not, as Bastia went on to score three more times.

Laurent Cipriani/Associated Press

Without the spot-kick at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, though, there was no other way that Ibrahimovic or PSG were going to score. Les Parisiens did not deserve their good fortune against Saint-Etienne because of the Bastia decision, Les Stephanois were just unlucky to be on the end of a common miscarriage of justice this time.

Ibrahimovic was fully rested, yet still failed to impose himself on PSG’s hosts and again looked a shadow of his former self. Cavani showed the sort of industry that is expected of the Swede, but barely got a sniff of goal because of his positioning.

There was also not enough creativity in a midfield boasting Motta, Verratti and Matuidi. Pastore was introduced with 15 minutes to go in place of Lucas, but perhaps should have been brought on earlier instead of one of the three in the middle to give PSG a creative boost.

Persevering with Zlatan is begging to hinder the team and the fact that the Swede will miss the upcoming Coupe de la Ligue semi-final away at Lille OSC is a good chance for Cavani to impress leading the line as he did in the 2-1 Coupe de France win over Girondins de Bordeaux in midweek.

PSG deserve credit for the way they defended and inhibited Saint-Etienne on their own turf, but the attack was borderline anaemic and Blanc needs to find a way to address this. The most obvious way to take care of this, based upon the Saint-Etienne performance, is either by removing Ibrahimovic from the equation or making the midfield more creative.

Would Blanc dare to do the former?