For Coaches' Voice, UEFA-licensed coaches analyse how Mikel Arteta's subtle switch shifted the momentum against PSG and assess how Arsenal can win the second leg.
Paris Saint-Germain put themselves in a strong position to reach the UEFA Champions League final with their first-leg win at Arsenal.
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The French champions may have just lost a Ligue 1 match for the first time this season, but they showed no signs of a hangover. On the contrary, Luis Enrique’s highly rated team got off to the perfect start with an early goal from Ousmane Dembele after a 26-pass move.
That ended up being that in terms of goals, despite both teams having their fair share of chances to score.
Arsenal were left to rue some fine saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma, while Mikel Merino did head in from a set-piece, only to be caught offside.
PSG – who were composed and controlled for much of the game – came close to scoring a second, particularly late on. As it was, they had to settle for a one-goal lead from their fourth win this season against Premier League opponents – following victories over Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa.
With Arsenal needing to win the return in Paris, they can console themselves with the fact that PSG have also lost three games against English clubs in this campaign – the first leg against Liverpool, the second to Villa, and a group game to Arsenal themselves. For now, though, it is advantage to a very good PSG.
How the managers saw it
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal: "We're at half-time and my message is the same after we beat Real Madrid at home 3-0 - we have to go to Paris and win the game. We are more than capable of doing it because I saw two very good teams with margins that are so small. They had efficiency in front of goal and their keeper made a difference to the result. We had one issue that we corrected after 15-20 minutes and we sustained that for the rest of the game, which I think turned it around."
Luis Enrique, PSG: "We’ve reached our first objective with tonight’s result, which could have been a draw or a 2-0 win. We showed our true mentality, we got off to a good start and we gave ourselves confidence."
Here, UEFA-licensed coaches analyse the key tactical points from the game.
PSG’s central rotations
With PSG’s 4-3-3 structure, a simple rotation between Joao Neves and Dembele allowed the latter to receive the ball freely in central midfield.
Vitinha's dropping movements and the wide runs from left-sided number eight Fabian Ruiz enhanced the impact of these rotations, occupying Arsenal's two central midfielders from their initial 4-4-2 press.
Arsenal’s centre-backs were then either pinned by Neves’ forward runs, or simply unwilling to follow the dropping Dembele. The away side then dominated possession and opened the scoring, with Dembele dropping into midfield to receive the ball in the build-up, prior to finishing the move from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s cutback.
PSG continued to be fluid in midfield in the opening stages, especially in their build from left to right.
Achraf Hakimi repositioned much higher as PSG built with a back three and Vitinha as the single pivot, as shown below.
Neves and Ruiz, meanwhile, adapted their positioning as the eights, working around Dembele's dropping. PSG’s play from left to right then worked the ball to Dembele or into the opposite inside channel, where Hakimi joined the attack.
There were also moments when Mendes simply worked the ball into Kvaratskhelia, who faced a competitive 1v1 battle against Jurrien Timber in the first half.
The home side eventually responded by tweaking their press. One of the first line – usually number 10 Martin Odegaard – covered Vitinha by defending deeper. Declan Rice moved out to track Ruiz, whether wide or with his dropping movements, especially when Bukayo Saka committed to pressing Mendes.
Merino covered across to deal with Dembele's dropping, with centre-back William Saliba ready to move into midfield when required. Gabriel Martinelli also narrowed significantly from left midfield to stop passes into the opposite 10 space (below), which had previously given PSG success when moving from left to right.
From here, Arsenal began to flip the PSG momentum and ended the first half with the same number of attempts on target as the away side.
Arsenal’s alteration
Once Arsenal’s change to a 4-2-3-1 press had shifted the momentum, their left side looked most likely to create an equaliser. The hosts often exploited Hakimi being out of position – usually after his bold and often unnecessary pressing well into central midfield.
Arsenal’s central driving with the ball also proved useful in exploiting towards the left side, with PSG attempting to cover Hakimi’s absence at right-back. The Gunners’ first major moment came when Martinelli was slipped in behind the covering Marquinhos, below, forcing Donnarumma into a superb save to keep the scores level at the break.
In the second half, Arsenal continued to threaten on their left, with Hakimi still positioned well outside of the traditional right-back spaces when PSG defended. Martinelli and Leandro Trossard further exploited this by rotating, with a narrowed run dragging the covering Marquinhos inside.
From here, the wider of the two attackers could receive the ball in behind, courtesy again of superb individual ball-carrying through central midfield from Rice. In the example below, Rice's run led to Donnarumma making an outstanding save to deny Trossard an equaliser.
As Hakimi and PSG began to withdraw their pressure and defend in a more compact block, Myles Lewis-Skelly’s movement into midfield from left-back helped Arsenal’s central progressions.
He found clever spaces to receive and drive forward, often created by Merino’s movement wide dragging his marker away from the centre. Rice and Odegaard were also man-marked and stayed away from Lewis-Skelly, enabling him to drive and connect into the rotating Trossard (below) and Martinelli.
But despite Arsenal’s progression of the ball, PSG defended superbly in their own half, frustrating the home side. With time ticking away, it was Enrique’s team that created good chances to score, which Arsenal just about survived to remain in the tie.
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