PSG 2-2 Montpellier: narrowness versus width

The starting line-ups
First played second in Ligue 1, and PSG maintain their one-point lead.
PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti was unable to use Javier Pastore from the start – he was fit only for the bench. The only change from the 0-0 draw with Nice was Blaise Matuidi coming in for Mathieu Bodmer on the left of midfield.
Rene Girard made three changes, bringing in Hilton at the back, Souleymane Camara on the right, and Jamel Saihi in the centre of midfield, in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
PSG dominate the centre
This game was a contrast of styles – more specifically, a contrast of formations. PSG frequently played 4-2-3-1 under Antoine Kombouare, but under Carlo Ancelotti they’ve moved to more of a 4-3-2-1, the system he often used at both Milan and Chelsea.
Up against the 4-2-3-1 of Montpellier, this meant the teams were strong in completely different areas. PSG packed the centre of the pitch, with Jeremy Menez and Nene rarely moving out to the flanks, despite the fact we’re accustomed to seeing both of them play out there. They didn’t even more wide without the ball, (as Ancelotti told the equivalent players to do in big games at Chelsea, which made the side 4-3-2-1 with the ball, and 4-3-3 without). This was a straight 4-3-2-1, and PSG had 5 v 3 in the centre, although the Montpellier wide players did a good job of tucking inside to help protect the defence.
Also, it was notable that Menez spent more time towards the left, Nene worked the right. This is the opposite to their usual flanks, a clear message that Ancelotti wants them to stay inside and combine, rather than drift wider.
The result was that the majority of PSG’s attacks came down the centre. There was good combination play for a first half Kevin Gameiro chance, for example, while the free-kick that Alex thumped into the net was also won in a central position. Later on, the equaliser came following good work from Pastore after his introduction, and the use of a 4-3-2-1 by Ancelotti might have been to make the most of Pastore’s talent – that’s the formation he excelled in at Palermo.
Montpellier break down the flanks

PSG had 5 v 3 in the middle, Montpellier had 2 v 1 down each flank
So whereas the away side had two fewer players in the middle, they had two extra on the flanks, and they got both full-backs forward well, constantly crossing the ball to the far post. Whilst PSG dominated possession, 57%-43%, they sometimes struggled to get the ball forward (more on that later). This wasn’t a problem for Montpellier, as there was an easy out-ball to a full-back, who could then move forward, combine with the wide players and create overloads.
Therefore, Montpellier used the ball more effectively than PSG, because they were able to have long spells of pressure. They kept winning corners by forcing PSG’s defenders to head the ball behind, and then continued to get the ball, send it out wide, then start again.
Both their goals came from crosses, with Hilton centring for a Younés Belhanda header, then later Olivier Giroud doing the same for John Utaka. PSG actually have two very good centre-backs in the air, Mamadou Sakho and Alex, but they couldn’t stop the initial crosses, and often it was late runners that caused them problems.
Caveats
However, there were some exceptions to this dividing lines:
1) PSG didn’t take full advantage of their numerical superiority in the centre, because the passing from Blaise Matuidi and Momo Sissoko was poor throughout the game – simple passes were underhit and misplaced. Thiago Motta moved very deep to collect the ball, which meant he was unable to play intelligent forward balls, and PSG missed someone who could dictate the flow of the game and slide passes into Nene and Menez quickly.
2) Despite being surrounded by opponents, Belhanda had an excellent game in the centre for Montpellier, transferring the ball quickly from defence to attack quickly and creating three chances for the away side.
3) In the second half PSG were braver with the positioning of their full-backs, pushing them higher up to force the Montpellier wingers deeper, meaning they were less submissive down the flanks.
Montpellier could and should have won the game, but they conceded a late equaliser when they gave the ball away in the centre of the pitch with men ahead of the ball, and were vulnerable to a quick break down the middle. It was interesting that Girard chose to replace both his holding players, with Benjamin Stambouli and Joris Marveaux on for Marco Estrada and Jamel Saihi. It’s easy to say it in hindsight, but maybe Girard should have kept one of them on and increased the presence in the centre – that was where PSG were likely to get their goal from, even after Pastore’s introduction for Sissoko meant them moving to a narrow 4-2-3-1.
Conclusion
Two sides with different strengths. It was the away side who played better here, constantly flooding the flanks and creating chances. PSG rather relied on mistakes and set-pieces for their goals, and are clearly a significantly better side with Pastore.
With eight points back to Lille, it’s one of these two for the title – PSG have the better players, Montpellier the more cohesive system.
Brilliant analysis once again.
ZM in press conferences Ancelotti often says his team is not playing wide enough to his taste so it contradicts your interpretation of him wanting his offensive midfielders to tuck inside…
but i agree why play nenê right etc then? he even puts pastore left, so the only guy on his best side is menez…
maybe he wants them to tuck inside but starting from close to the touchline and not close to the center to the other half…
weird to me…
Ha ha! it looks like a funny face
i think PSG should move Motta up into the right midfielder position, bodmer taking the simple one touch ball forward regulator because they need more intelligence/thinking/composure/etc in the 2 other midfield roles, because of matuidi, sissoko and chantome being “over-energetic”, they’re everywhere to catch up the opponent but not at the simple tactical spot they should focus on…
also the best midfield performance of PSG was with sissoko-bodmer-jallet, bodmer and jallet playing simple & quickly and tight tactically, with sissoko with more freedom of movement and linking up responsability
so to me sissoko, matuidi & chantome are not ready to take 2 of the 3 “defensive” midfield roles because they can’t trade physical energy to thinking energy yet…
Allow me to disagree on your description of Chantome. He is very promising and has a high football HQ. Also he is far from being a physical player which explains why his game relies more on his vision of the pitch. And that’s exactly why many of us PSG fans are disappointed with his little playing time.
Contrary to a player like Matuidi, Chantome is very good at keeping the ball when the flow of the game requires it.
guess what? next to bodmer and motta i’d like to see chantome in priority too (sissoko either the situation is good for him or he’ll be like this game, still more useful than matuidi to me though)
the thing is, to me chantome is still too much of a ligue 1 player: how often do you see him following an attack 10/15 meters too high with no effect on it and letting an opponent he should mark/watch/close counter attack in the free space?
ok he has the gas to sprint back 40 metres and start it all over again, but it would be far better for the team if he’d think tactically those situations by anticipating the quick ball recovery and be clutch in his fewer all in risks…
that’s what i mean by physical play, i definitely think he’d get to this point but he’s not at it yet…
i also rate chantome high, i’m sane don’t worry
“Montpellier could and should have won the game”
Gah, tell me about it. Thing is, they don’t seem to be able to back off and hold – after the second goal, they still kept pouring forward. Now, worth it, maybe, to try to get a third knowing that PSG would come back hard, but maybe a bit too risky. Sirugu had another good game, as I feared. Next couple of games will be key…
PSG – In defense, as ZM suggested, they had CB’s that were strong in the air, but they were overloaded by a high amount of crosses and corners and weren’t helped out by the rest of team. The fullbacks were clearly exposed and couldnt stop the crosses with Bisevac in particular really poor. The defense as a unit didnt defend very well against late runs from midfield, of which Montpellier were courageous enough to throw forward.
In midfield, they were quite poor as well. Motta had a good game, defending pretty well against Belhanda and keeping possession well with accurate passes. But he was the only midfielder doing it, so it was up to him to try and get the ball forward consistently, but playing so deep meant he couldnt the ball forward quick enough. As stated, the other two CM’s were poor in possession. Sissoko has always been a poor passer and I do not know how he keeps getting bought by big clubs, he has pretty much failed everywhere he has been. In this game he even poor defensively, he hardly had to deal with Estrada getting forward, so he should have helped out the RB zone, but instead let the game pass him by. Matuidi was a bit better and at least pressed forward to try and force Saihi into mistakes, but his passing was equally poor and having him has the attacking midfielder basically meant PSG couldnt get the ball into dangerous positions. They needed Pastore in that position, and when he came on he made PSG tick, linking the midfield and attack wonderfully, a key player for PSG (though his defensive game needs to get better).
In attack, Nene and Menez werent given great service, but they combined with eachover and Gameiro with excellent chemistry. This showed that when PSG could get ball forward, they looked like scoring. Gameiro showed excellent movement to drag the CB’s out of position and Nene and Menez looked to take advantage. When Pastore came on, the four front players all clicked together and they looked very cohesive. The downside was a complete lack of defensive awareness by all of them, typified whenever the lost the ball with a complete lack of effort to win the ball back.
Overall, PSG as team didnt play as a team. They seemed a broken team at first with Sissoko and Matuidi unable to get the ball forward. Then Pastore came on to create a link between midfield and attack, but this still left a broken team defensively as the front four didnt defend and the back six didnt attack. This was shown at fullback, when they were heavily exposed by there wingers not tracking back, this weak link defensively nearly lost them the game.
I usually agree with your analysis ZM, but the following statement: ”PSG actually have two very good centre-backs in the air, Mamadou Sakho and Alex, but they couldn’t stop the initial crosses, and often it was late runners that caused them problems.” is something I have to challenge. While it might be generally true, but in this match they were completely, and absolutely dominated in the air by Giroud. Montpellier were more of threat in quick transitions, playing the ball early to Giroud to battle out, supported by the wide players and Belhanda.
This is why Alex got replaced by Lugano later in the game, to hinder the aerial dominance of Giroud. (Though personally I thought replacing Sakho, who was having a poor game, would’ve been a better move but he’s the captain). Yet ironically, Montpellier’s second goal came from Giroud’s cross. There was general confusion in the PSG defense since it was the main target now in a wide position, and it was Lugano’s zone where the goal was scored from.
Keep up the good work!
Alex was replaced because of a thigh injury alert (+ the headkick not helping…)
also giroud being a pivot for montpellier to move the ball up and giroud winning headers in the box to score is not the same thing, you can’t expect a CB to win headers against a tall striker moving down form his position, and i don’t remember giroud having head scoring opportunities…
Not the point really. Giroud won majority of the aerial battles, and I don’t think Alex won a single one against him. It’s hard to say that PSG’s CB’s were strong in the air then, isn’t it? Sure Giroud wasn’t a direct goal threat in many of those situation, but at the same time it caused PSG being vulnerable against early balls to the Montpellier target man. In theory, it’s the quickest and most direct route on goal after all. So not only was it false in this particular match, but it’s also notable in tactical discussion.
I’ll try to look up some stats, so you don’t have to take my word for it though.
Giroud is weel-known for his exceptionnal aerial abilities. That’s his strong point. Very few defendeers, at least in Ligue 1, could have resisted like Sakho/Alex did. Really, Giroud was pretty well contained. He is L1’s top scorer and yet, he never was really dangerous in that game.
Its rare to see so many good points in so few words.
Bravo sir anon.
yeah. and saying ZM’s statement that they have two good headers of the ball is wrong based on one performance doesn’t hold and weight either. That’s like saying Xavi isn’t smart on the ball because he just had one game where he was intercepted 8 times
Giroud is excellent winning aerian duels as a pivot, but he’s still pretty poor in the box. Very few of his goals are headers.
Looked up those stats (seems like a great site btw!), aerial dueals won:
Alex: 0
Sakho: 2
Giroud: 9
Well resisted? Not really. And as I said, it well might be generally true that Alex and Sakho are strong in the air, but here they were completely dominated. One performance doesn’t exactly make them bad, but it’s definitely worth mentioning since it bears tactical significance. Or at least, it’s a very strange thing to mention as the CB pairing’s strong point in this instance.
As Jesse brought up the Xavi example, I refuse to believe that ZM would not mention it, if Xavi was to have a bad match passing wise, and let’s say, completes only 70% of them. This is not an attack towards ZM, but to have a discussion, no one’s points should be beyond critique.
Ps. The source is http://www.whoscored.com
it’s sad to see so few comments on ligue 1 games, hopefully with Ancelotti and PSG signing big players, Deschamps, Lyon being Lyon, Lille growing and clubs like Montpellier, Rennes looking better the interest on this championship will grow…
french clubs should try and look better at least in the Europa League to draw interest though…
Agree. One of my favorite leagues too
Where did you get the game from? Usually I download games at fullmatches.net but they havent uploaded this one…
i watched it on tv live…
Thank you very much for your insightful comments on the game, and for your website in general. We french fans are dying to read anything half as good on a ligue 1 game in french press…
Any comments on Menez and Nene’s inability to offer Gameiro goalscoring opportunities? He’s been on a weak record ever since Pastore’s performances have toned down in early winter. Sure, he’s missed a bunch of opportunities he’d been likely to have scored earlier this season; but he is often transparent in his appearances and has been very vocal about both players prefering to dribble or shoot instead of passing him the ball. Whereas Pastore often seemed to be searching to deliver him the killer pass.
Hoarau, though catalogued as a clumsy big guy whom you can only reach by long balls, and being buried by the press basically for having been injured while Gameiro was hot; has seemed a better match for Nene and Menez in his late appearances, with far better participation in constructing moves and good combinations “dos au but”. Does he stand a chance to take Gameiro’s place as the no 1 striker? After all, his goalscoring record on the two seasons he’s been 100% fit being twice around 20 goals in 50 matches is quite good considering Paris was far away from the title picture.
What about Ancelotti not chosing Chantome, who seemed the natural substitute for the injured Mathieu Bodmer? Chantome was actually ahead of Bodmer in Kombouare’s hierarchy last year, showing tremendous energy in midfield added to the offensive abilities PSG fans knew him for in past seasons. In my opinion, he would have made the link between the midfield and the 3 attacking players. After all, PSG held the ball most of the time in this match, but only appeared dangerous on very short counter attacking sequences.
I think this absence of a player who’s better with the ball than Sissoko or Matuidi are, is shown by the fact that Nene, for the first time this season, has not attempted a single shot during the game.
You seem to think that Pastore’s ideal position is as one of the two attacking midfielders. However, word in the french press is that Ancelotti is considering using him alongside Nene and Menez in a side with no real striker (as against Toulouse), or as part of the midfield trio. Where do you think he would most contribute to improve the fluidity of PSG’s moves, which has been known as Paris’ major flaw so far this year.
good points about Chantome and Pastore
I think this shows the disconnect between tactics and recruitment.
Although Alex and Motta are quality and came cheap, what Ancelotti really needs is a deep lying playmaker. Pastore would be great but I am not sure someone can step up and do the defensive part of the job for him (as Gattuso did for Pirlo). Sissoko and Matuidi looked overrun in midfield against Montpellier despite having more men in the centre of the pitch.
Chantome is good defensively and I would definitely like Ancelotti to test him in that role against quality opposition when he has fully recovered.
Otherwise since 4321 is Ancelotti’s long term plan I think PSG should approach the likes of Ever Banega (despite his freak injury) or Schweinsteiger.
it would be a waste of talent to put pastore as low as the pirlo role
and i think motta does the deep lying regulator very well, it’s just the players around him who need to step up their game, bodmer does it well in his way too, they don’t have pirlo’s crazy long range passing skill or his ability to read situations two times before others, but they still read it one time before others
I think they should definitely prioritize signing a seedorf/ambrosini type of player over a pirlo one… something like a marchisio, vidal, tino costa, sahin, milner: an all round midfielder with (defensive) volume of play and (tactical) intelligence, at the best level possible of course…
i also rate chantome high as anybody watching PSG playing, i hope he’ll be clearly ahead of the new signings matuidi and sissoko by this summer, i’d hate to see him leave…
Also to me Pastore’s best use – apart from a complicated lobsided formation – would be something close to ronaldinho’s role in the 2002 world cup, next to rivaldo and ronaldo (what a trio that was !!!):
in the 4321 (or 4312…) he’d be the offensive midfielder getting back to carry the ball to the attack, using two players clearly in front of him, but also the fullbacks and let’s say one of the two gattuso/ambrosini players, in a counter-attack manner but also to link better the ‘defensive’ midfielders to the OM/Strikers in ‘assault’ plays
so he’d be the lowest of the front three… sadly the ones going back to move the ball to the attack are always Nenê and Menez…
ZM – your bum-buddy AVB got spanked. Draw a diagram about that.
Yes, it is a MUST!
Yo ZM where you at?
Are you still mad that another one of your beloved best league in the world ever teams got spanked by Napoli?
Haha if you want to do one here’s a video I found which shows the goals,main highlights and some tactical insights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1orMXD_Ijbs
Amazed you think I’m like that. I was working last night, getting the report up soon
It’s hardly “work”.
You guys did a great job spending your time to create this article! If I had to explain my emotions about your website in only one word ? it would be WOW! Thank you! P.S. Subscribed for updates!
I just wanted to leave a comment to say that I enjoy your blog. Looking at the number of comments, I see others feel the same way! Congratulations on a very popular blog.
Great stuff from you, man. I?ve read your stuff before and you?re just too awesome. I love what you?ve got here, love what you?re saying and the way you say it. Peace y?all!
I am very lucky that I?ve found your blog and this article! The information you provide here is very clear and understandable! Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Zonal Marking.
) and I hope not the last one.
Thanks for reviewing French Ligue 1 games.
This is already the second one this year (already more than last year
I am pleased to see that this article attracted a fair bit of comments.
I feel like French league is becoming increasingly interesting with a lot of suspense and very good games like this one. With 2 teams in position to qualify for 1/4 finals of Champions League and the signing of big players in teams like Paris I hope it will keep becoming a more and more interesting league to follow.
Thanks for your website
Hello! Incredible information and very professional! I really enjoy reading information about this Review.