PSG’s Luis Enrique needs to start seeing clinical edge after rocky start to Champions League

PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain once again made a UEFA Champions League game at Parc des Princes harder than it needed to be by falling 1-0 behind to PSV Eindhoven before ultimately fighting back to draw 1-1 on Tuesday evening in the third round of League Phase play. For much of the game against PSV it was a very familiar script for PSG in terms of dominating possession and creating chances without scoring and Ousmane Dembele was particularly guilty of being wasteful when he hit the woodwork in the first half when an equalizer had seemed a foregone conclusion.

However, Noa Lang’s 34th-minute effort stunned the home supporters into silence and separated the two sides at halftime which had PSG staring down the barrel at a rather embarrassing home loss to the Dutch giants — although relative UCL minnows by this year’s standards — all the way through the break. Achraf Hakimi’s leveler 10 minutes into the second half did see to it that Les Parisiens would not slip to a rare defeat on home soil but it was also a very familiar script for the French champions since Luis Enrique took over as head coach and reminiscent of Spain’s FIFA 2022 World Cup campaign which saw goals at premium after a prolific start.

“It is a hard result to accept,” said the PSG boss and former La Roja tactician postgame. “Soccer can sometimes be unfair like that. I think that we played really well and were much better than PSV — we had so many more chances than they did and deserved to win. However, we could not get the decisive shot on target. I always demand that we take the initiative, in attack and defense, ahead of our opponents. We deserved to win but soccer can be capricious and we could also have lost. That is how this sport works.”

In many ways, this result was like the Girona game in the opening round with plenty of chances created but no real cutting edge up front which meant flirting with a disappointing result before eventually securing a point or better. There was no goalkeeper error in Hakimi’s finish which was simply too powerful for ex-OGC Nice shot stopper Walter Benitez to handle but to say that say that it was wholly deserved at that point would have been a disservice to PSV who were very competitive for the first hour without first-choice central midfielders Joey Veerman and Jerdy Schouten.

We saw PSG create enough chances to equalize against Arsenal before being logically undone by a far more clinical side and it was also the same story in last season’s run to the Champions League final and a handful of European games that campaign as well and the late siege on PSV’s goal was in keeping with that. Dembele has regularly been a main culprit but so too has been Luis Enrique’s Parisien setup which often features no real focal point in attack with Lee Kang-in and Marco Asensio often used as false nines in more aesthetically pleasing but less direct and efficient game plan while Goncalo Ramos is out injured.

“Our attack is one of the best in Europe and creates the most chances in Ligue 1 and the Champions League,” added the Spanish tactician of Paris’ inefficiency in front of goal. “That is what I value in my team. Luck does also have to be on your side but our team creates chances. We are going through a tough spell and our aim is to improve but I have no criticism even though we only scored once. I do what I consider to be best for my team as I am sure all other head coaches do with their starting XIs. I would go with the same players if the game was replayed. There is a little pessimism but I am calm. My team was far better than PSV were.”

Benitez in the PSV goal deserved some credit for a few smart saves while PSG were chasing the game but the hosts were also wasteful through other sources as the same issues keep plaguing the Ligue 1 giants so it is not a lack of opportunities to score that prevent them from running stronger teams closer or beating them. Many people will point to the summer loss of Kylian Mbappe but it is not necessarily that given that the French superstar was not always the one providing the clinical edge often last season as the UCL quarterfinals against Barcelona illustrated — cutting edge has been sacrificed for improved overall balance.

Ultimately, Luis Enrique’s men created enough chances to score enough goals to beat their opponents on the day — as is almost always the case — but this was another example of yet another game where it almost was not enough because PSG are yet to develop a way around that to safeguard themselves with an insurance goal or two. Until Les Parisiens are more consistent and reliable in front of goal, which might come when Ramos returns, most opponents will recognize that there is a way to potentially get the better of them as long as they remain as wasteful as they currently are both domestically and in Europe.

With Atletico Madrid at home and Bayern Munchen on the road coming up next in Europe, that switch into a more clinical team cannot come soon enough — it has already hindered them on numerous occasions and the margin for error is now much slimmer than it ever has been with just four points from a possible nine. Such a return from the opening three games is not what many expected at the beginning of this campaign but it is now the reality and it dictates that wayward finishing from the likes of Dembele and others can no longer be tolerated because it is about to start really costing PSG in this new-look UCL.