To find a trace of a system with three defenders at the start of a PSG meeting, you have to go back to ... April 30, 2019 and a defeat in Montpellier in L1, at the end of the first season of Thomas Tuchel in red and blue. This Tuesday in Dortmund, the German coach surprised his world by choosing an unprecedented 3-4-3 on the lawn of Signal Iduna Park. An intriguing choice, which did not allow Parisians to obtain the expected result (1-2) and which will be discussed in the coming days.
Because so far this season, PSG has had a tactical break in two game systems: 4-3-3 from August to late November and 4-4-2 (or 4-2-4) since early December . This last scheme had the advantage of creating an alchemy between the four attackers that are Neymar, Mbappé, Icardi and Di Maria. But according to Tuchel, the meeting against Dortmund demanded something else. "To play in 4-4-2, we have to be in the best physical capacity," he said before kickoff at the microphone of RMC Sport. Players lack a little rhythm like Ney, Marqui, Kimp, Thiago… Now is not the time to try this system (in the Champions League) and go all-in ( Editor's note: risking everything ) ”.
Next three weeks will be hectic
An explanation based on the condition of the troops that can be heard. But why not simply return to a 4-3-3 pattern, that worked on the first weeks of the 2019-2020 fiscal year? No doubt to keep pace with the system proposed by Borussia Dortmund. But 4-3-3 would have had the advantage of seeing an experienced midfielder (Marquinhos-Gueye-Verratti). One thing is certain: nothing was yet decided before "Sunday or Monday", according to Tuchel, who did not set up any of this scheme at the Camp des Loges or during the last session in Germany.
Throughout the day, the clues on team composition remained very discreet. Before the first echoes fall. "The choices will be debated," will even slip someone close to the club. It cannot be proven wrong after the result conceded by Parisians across the Rhine. This 3-4-3 failed to contain the arrows of Dortmund (including Sancho), nor the Norwegian prodigy Haaland (doubled for him). Above all, it does not correspond to the game ideas desired by the German before the meeting, namely a game of "control" and "possession". Lucien Favre 1 - Thomas Tuchel 0. Before the return, scheduled for March 11, the next three weeks will be hectic.