PSG's Poor Performance Against Nancy Is the Sign of Champions

On Saturday afternoon, Paris Saint-Germain picked up a vital three points on the road. The 2-1 win over AS Nancy at the Stade Marcel Picot was far from entertaining or convincing, but it was exactly what manager Unai Emery needed going into a tough week.

“Our priority is to have respect for Nancy,” the Spanish coach said in Friday’s pre-match press conference. He continued:

"

They may at the bottom of the table, but it's not easy to win there. They will be very motivated and aggressive because they need the three points. We're ready for the difficulties the match is likely to pose us: the synthetic pitch and our motivated opponents. We need the three points too. I think the team is ready.

"

Emery had to make changes. With Maxwell and Layvin Kurzawa injured, he started Presnel Kimpembe at left-back, but that meant he was unable to rest either of his two Brazilian centre-backs, Thiago Silva and Marquinhos.

Up front, he handed Jonathan Ikone a surprise start on the left flank ahead of summer signings Jese Rodriguez and Hatem Ben Arfa.

PATRICK HERTZOG/Getty Images

Some might have expected the former Real Madrid man to get the nod, but playing on Nancy’s controversial artificial pitch, it was perhaps deemed not safe after Jese’s recent injury problems.

PSG were motivated from the first whistle, taking the game to the home side. Whenever you face the Parisians in this mood, you have to defend well and try not to gift them opportunities.

Nancy boss Pablo Correa began the game playing his normal 3-5-2 formation. It’s a setup looking for a safety-first approach, packing the midfield and looking to hit opponents on the break or from set pieces.

The pitch was causing problems early on, the unnatural bounce and the unfamiliarity of the surface making it difficult to adjust. But it worked to PSG’s favour after 13 minutes, when they opened the scoring.

After a seemingly harmless foul on Brazilian winger Lucas Moura, the 24-year-old curled the ball into the danger area. He then watched his right-footed effort bounce twice, miss Edinson Cavani and Grzegorz Krychowiak, evade goalkeeper Guy-Roland Ndy Assembe and nestle in the far corner.

The 'keeper was expecting a touch from any number of players. That never came, and the surface carried the ball all the way into the net.

There was a similar feel to the second when it came, just five minutes later. Again, a hopeful, harmless, punt upfield by PSG stopper Alphonse Areola from his own box looked set to be dealt with easily by the Nancy defence. Mickael Chretien was underneath it, and without any pressure on the Moroccan, his backward header was left short and Cavani latched on to it in a flash.

Credit to the Uruguayan striker. Even after a long trip back from international duty, he was sharp and alert, and his finish was excellent, lifting the ball expertly over Ndy Assembe for the 2-0 lead.

PATRICK HERTZOG/Getty Images

Cavani’s ninth league goal of the season was another perfect example of how good the former Napoli man can be when he’s not left with time to think about his decision.

You cannot afford to gift PSG two goals at any level. Both came from poor and sloppy play. It wasn’t even bad defending—just lapses in concentration from the home side.

The Parisians didn’t have to work particularly hard for Saturday’s victory—well, at least for the first 18 minutes. What followed was a PSG-esque performance, something we saw far too often under ex-coach Laurent Blanc that it was hoped Emery would be able to eliminate from their game.

"

juga bonito pic.twitter.com/f0X3QsgPw1

— philippe (@philousports) October 15, 2016"

Over the next 72 minutes of play, PSG attempted just four more shots on goal. You could blame the pitch. You could assume the game was already over or that perhaps the two bigger, more taxing fixtures to come were in their mind.

However you dress it up, despite the three points, it was not a convincing performance. Nancy handed them the three points on a silver platter. PSG accepted and then sat back and put in the minimal effort required.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/Getty Images

"I’m very happy with the three points tonight," Emery admitted to reporters after the game. He continued:

"

It was a tough game on an artificial pitch against a side that needed points at home.

At 2-0, Nancy put us under pressure. We supplied the intensity from kick-off and Nancy responded. The team worked very well. It’s never easy to win here. We still have to fine tune a few things. You have to know how to win this type of match. We are ready for the Champions League on Wednesday, and then the Classico.

"

It was the classic performance of champions. They won without playing well. French newspaper L’Equipe summed up the level of performance perfectly, awarding no one in the PSG team any more than a six out of 10 for Saturday’s display:

They were made to work near the end of the game after Nancy had pulled one back. Set pieces are football’s great leveller. No matter how good or bad you are, you can be caught out by good service into your penalty area.

Benoit Pedretti, the former Lille and Auxerre midfielder, has always been deadly with the ball at his feet. His 54th-minute cross was met by Alou Diarra, and the former France international midfielder headed home his first goal on his debut for his new club.

"It wasn’t easy, but that was due to our opponent," said Blaise Matuidi after Saturday’s game, per PSG's official site. He added:

"

Tonight they had nothing to lose. We started well but then struggled, gave away too much possession.

Nancy put us under pressure, but the main thing was we got the three points. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but it was important to win. We had a lot of players out missing. The youngsters stepped up and that’s good.

"

There are definitely more positives than negatives to take from Saturday’s game. Kimpembe played well at left-back, and the midfield trio of Krychowiak, Matuidi and Marco Verratti got another game together. That has to be the future of the team, and it will be interesting to see how the Spanish coach lines up for the Champions League game against FC Basel on Wednesday.

The most important thing on Saturday was the win. With Basel to come before Emery’s first Classique meeting with Olympique de Marseille. It was important to keep the ball rolling despite how poor the performance was.

Nancy is always a tough place to go, especially with that pitch and the nature of how Correa will always get his team to fight until the end.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/Getty Images

“Before the game, I wanted to win, whether we played well or not," Verratti told the media after the game. "Even when you’re not playing well, you have to be able to get the win. We still have room for improvement. We need to work harder. Now we’ll prepare for Basel and then Marseille."

Win both their next two fixtures, and no one will remember this game in a week’s time. There are signs that all is not right and that the 4-3-3 still doesn’t sit right with the new boss, but all that matters is the victory.