Six games without scoring is long, very long, for a 21-year-old player who had never known a silence of more than three games since his debut in the Champions League in 2017. At the tip then on the left side, the world champion had a nasty evening against Manchester United (1-2) on Tuesday, marked by poor performance and insufficient activity (7.5 km traveled, 23 sprints, according to data from RMC Sport).
If Kylian Mbappé continues to ride in Ligue 1 and to beat records of precocity in Paris as with the Blues, his last performances against the big ones are challenging, like those in Final 8 and then against Portugal and Croatia, despite a decisive goal against the latter nation, in the jersey of France.
A disconcerting observation for a player who exploded by blazing in the Champions League in Monaco and then jumped out in the eyes of the planet during an accomplished World Cup.
"He finds fewer spaces," underlines Alain Perrin, consultant for the Téléfoot channel and former coach of Lyon and OM.
The Champions League is real football.
The defenders are better and his game is better known to the opponents.
When he arrived, he created a surprise.
He is in a transitional phase in which he must regain accuracy in his game to make the difference.
It is a phase of adjustment.
He wants to take his responsibilities, sometimes too much, he can try to bring more fluidity in his game to become again unpredictable as he was.
"In detail, the coach points to a sometimes harmful turn:" He has lost a little of his altruism, he tends to be in a personal record-hunting project, to want to stand out for the Golden Ball, the golden shoe, the top scorer's trophy… ”
"He does things backwards by trying to play Neymar"
Mickaël Madar, former PSG striker and consultant for Canal +, also admits his concern on this level, while stressing that he adapts his requirements to the level of the player: "For some time, he has disappointed me a little in terms of behavior , effort and his game that I have always appreciated, made of speed, depth and elimination.
He thwarts, he does things backwards by trying to make Neymar.
It's not his thing to put the sole on the ball, to win and eliminate three or four guys.
This is what bothers me the most.
His quality is to take the ball, to rely on a teammate and to ask for more in space, behind the backs of the defenders.
He is not a contact player who must weigh, be a point of fixation to deflect the head.
"
These tactical considerations are confirmed by statistics which highlight that Kylian Mbappé is most effective near goal, but with another striker by his side, as during his meteoric debut with Falcao in Monaco.
In the Champions League, PSG have won the three games they started in a duo (against Liverpool, Belgrade and Galatasaray).
In the French team, it is the reflection according to which Mbappé is not an isolated tip, mainly because of his deficiencies in the head game or in support, which pushes Didier Deschamps to place him alongside Olivier Giroud or to shift it in a corridor, with a lot of freedom.
"Without awareness, he will not advance"
The Parisian, of course, has extenuating circumstances.
He was coming back from injury during Final 8 and is coming out of five consecutive games played in the wake of his Covid infection.
Is Kylian Mbappé's weak influence the repercussion of his tenure in Nîmes, two days after a match with the Blues and a night return?
“We made this decision together, explained Thomas Tuchel after his brilliant performance in the Gard.
He felt good, absolutely wanted to play… ”And like a lot of people, the manager seems determined not to thwart the greatest potential of world football, which did not always taste in the past to be less praised than some partners.
“I have the impression that we can no longer say anything to him, regrets Mickaël Madar.
Becoming the player he aspires to be requires a lot of rethinking.
They say he is of the caliber of the great, Pelé has brought him up to his level.
To become like that, there are demands and sacrifices to be made, people to be listened to.
These days he doesn't seem to be in those arrangements.
Without awareness, he will not move forward.
Everyone says he is calm, intelligent, that he has his feet on the ground.
Now is the time to demonstrate it.
I'm getting hard on him, because he has enormous potential and when I see him like that, I tell myself that he lets himself go.
"
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With the Champions League returning next week in Istanbul, the very urgent Mbappé will at least have the opportunity to quickly put an end to his unusual silence.
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