The Dream Team: PSG 21/22 Watch

Bah gawd almighty.

Is this the Fifa life, or just fantasy?

Maybe. 442 in defence with Hakimi and Mbappe dropping in to form 2 4's. Doest really fit Di Maria however.

However, this will be hampered by the fact Ramos is always injured and even with "fit" is finished anyway.

I suspect a 433 with Bernat (or someone) at leftback, Paredes in the midfield with Veratti and Gigi.

Harmonica wrote:Is this the Fifa life, or just fantasy?

Our boy finally has a proper supporting cast. Pace merchant outlet in Mbappe, link up play with Neymar, tempo setter in Verratti, donkey work behind him with Wijnaldum, and deep runs from Di Maria and Hakimi fffsss.

If Mbappe doesn't ruin it with his ego there's no way they don't win the CL. There's no away goals this year either. If PSG can't win the CL with that individual quality Poch needs to be sacked for Zidane ASAP.

The Franchise wrote:However, this will be hampered by the fact Ramos is always injured and even with "fit" is finished anyway.

Not really. Last season was an exception to the rule for Ramos. I mean sure, he got injured in the past, but not as often as last season where he got sidelined for most of the season. And it only happened because he finally decided to operate his knee after years of postponing.

I also don't agree that he's finished. On the contrary, he's still a thousand times better than Militao and Nacho combined. Plus, he comes with a bonus: goals. Not that PSG's attack is going to need it, but it's still a nice option to have.

He's still elite if you ask me, and I wish Madrid didn't let him go.

The Franchise wrote:Maybe. 442 in defence with Hakimi and Mbappe dropping in to form 2 4's. Doest really fit Di Maria however.

However, this will be hampered by the fact Ramos is always injured and even with "fit" is finished anyway.

I suspect a 433 with Bernat (or someone) at leftback, Paredes in the midfield with Veratti and Gigi.

I think if they play a 3-4-3 they might defend in a 4-4-2 as well. I'm just not sure if Kimpembe will be comfortable shifting to LB when defending deep. Di Maria I assume will start against weaker teams and maybe Bernat will play the big games there. Theo would be perfect for them.

That being said I think a 4-3-3 is more likely. There's also a bit of a worry with how the front three will coexist. Neymar is practically a 10 like Messi these days, and Mbappe wants to be a LW. Messi doesn't have the workrate to play as a RW either.

Neymar has shown he's willing to adapt to Messi before. I'm not sure about Mbappe. Reports said that during the Euros he was obsessed with being the man of the team. Would he be willing to take a simple RW outlet role instead? He wants to be Ronaldo, but he might need to be a Pedro tbh.

The potential is there, but there are obvious balance issues that can come to play.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

The Franchise wrote:However, this will be hampered by the fact Ramos is always injured and even with "fit" is finished anyway.

Not really. Last season was an exception to the rule for Ramos. I mean sure, he got injured in the past, but not as often as last season where he got sidelined for most of the season. And it only happened because he finally decided to operate his knee after years of postponing.  

I also don't agree that he's finished. On the contrary, he's still a thousand times better than Militao and Nacho combined. Plus, he comes with a bonus: goals. Not that PSG's attack is going to need it, but it's still a nice option to have.

He's still elite if you ask me, and I wish Madrid didn't let him go.

Nope, its the start of the inevitable. At his age and play style, he will never be the same. He has been on a steady decline physically and now he cant stay fit. When was the last time he played 3 months in a row?

Nothing will change on either front, time will show it.

PSG got one of the best ever freekick taker and corner player in single transfer window. Their dead ball situations got just on another level.

Btw who's PSG's free kick taker, I see Neymar only scoring 2 the last three seasons?

Casciavit wrote:Our boy finally has a proper supporting cast. Pace merchant outlet in Mbappe, link up play with Neymar, tempo setter in Verratti, donkey work behind him with Wijnaldum, and deep runs from Di Maria and Hakimi fffsss.

If Mbappe doesn't ruin it with his ego there's no way they don't win the CL. There's no away goals this year either. If PSG can't win the CL with that individual quality Poch needs to be sacked for Zidane ASAP.

Ego doesn't really work with Messi. Either you adapt, or Messi's constant quality will make you insecure, and nobody wants that. What happened to Zlatan in Barca I think.

https://twitter.com/HLTCO/status/1425122155516338183

What a team. I'm forced to watch Ligue Un now ffs

Ramos,Messi in one team

We'll have to wait a couple of months before we see all players together. Messi hasn't even trained with the team yet and Ramos is out for 2 months

Messi is a beta anyways. When penalties come, Ramos will step up like a badass and Messi will have to watch on from the periphery

PSG taking over from MLS! Retirement centre! Can’t wait until CR7 gets admitted as well.

I just love the bitter & envious comments from Madrid fans, of all people lol. I would have expected Barca fans to be more salty. But no... Madrid fans.

Fanbase represents their current president I guess. What should one expect.

In any case, in terms of how PSG lines up:

Navas/Donnarumma (this is going to be a battle royal)
Hakimi - Marquinhos - Ramos - Diallo (Bernat is 3rd choice actually)
Wijnaldum - Paredes - Verratti
Messi - Mbappe - Neymar

Bench
Di Maria
Icardi
Herrera
Gueye
Pereira
Kimpembe
Bernat
Draxler
one of Navas/Donnarumma
Kehrer
Kurzawa
Sarabia

That's the squad of 23. I think there will be a lot of rotation frankly and the idea will be to have the best 11 on the pitch maybe 60-65% of the time.

Here's the beauty of it for Messi... he doesn't have to play like a super hero.  You have Ashraf Hakimi bombing on the right, Wijnaldum covering you, Marquinhos as your RCB, Verratti and Neymar creating in the middle AND Mbappe bombing behind the defense.

Messi literally can just let the game come to him and not force a single thing.  

Other teams can't leave Neymar and Mbappe to focus on Messi.  They can't allow Verratti to just dictate in the midfield.  They can't let Hakimi loose.

Messi is literally going to be facing 1v1 most times.  Imagine that.

Me looking for Madrid fans being salty about the move

Not you Perucho. Bill and Hala.

I can't be jealous of a team that would probably get KO'ed in the quarters or semis of the CL.

sportsczy wrote:I just love the bitter & envious comments from Madrid fans, of all people lol. I would have expected Barca fans to be more salty. But no... Madrid fans.

Fanbase represents their current president I guess. What should one expect.

In any case, in terms of how PSG lines up:

Navas/Donnarumma (this is going to be a battle royal)
Hakimi - Marquinhos - Ramos - Diallo (Bernat is 3rd choice actually)
Wijnaldum - Paredes - Verratti
Messi - Mbappe - Neymar

Bench
Di Maria
Icardi
Herrera
Gueye
Pereira
Kimpembe
Bernat
Draxler
one of Navas/Donnarumma
Kehrer
Kurzawa
Sarabia

That's the squad of 23. I think there will be a lot of rotation frankly and the idea will be to have the best 11 on the pitch maybe 60-65% of the time.

Everyone seems to believe that Wijnaldum will walk into the starting 11 and I don't think it will be that easy. I'd go with Paredes--Danilo--Verratti.

Casciavit wrote:

Bah gawd almighty.

A left flank defended by Neymar and Di Maria as wingback seems like a really promising plan

Guess that spells the end of Icardi since its known Messi isnt a fan of him given his stunt pulled against Maxi Lopez, a known friend of Missi.

Offensively, it will obviously be very good. They have the ability to play in transitions or break down organised defences.

I question it defensively. Against the likes of City, Bayern, Chelsea and co.

Sure, they may look to use a high pressure game. But those strong sides are very press resistant and will find solutions. They will have to spend time without the ball in those games.

One of those front 3 have to sacrifice defensively and even when they do, it will be a tough situation with Messi who will contribute nothing in those moments. Neymar and Mbappe showed some willingness to work, both in the Bayern final 2 years ago and the quarter final last year but this may not be enough.

442 defensively works when the wingers defend tightly and compactly. That 2nd line of 4 makes or breaks it, especially the way the wing players act. One of those front 3 (lets be real, its going to be Mbappe or Ney rotating this role) will have to defend in a way they very rarely have to.

Against the very best sides the front 2 also have to have an active role, they need to lessen the load in the 2 pivots. Barca constantly have suffered this when Messi and Suarez or even Messi and Fati. So I dont know what Ney and Messi will give in these moments either.

Ruling them out of winning it all would be lunacy, but there are serious question marks. Poch has to be very clear in his ideas and has to have a strong mentality for them to stand any chance.

Fullbacks were really the issue dani... defense up the middle was fine.  Florenzi/Dagba and Kurzawa/Bakker was just awful.  It cause all sorts of imbalance issues as the midfielders and CBs had to compensate.

Hakimi and Diallo/Kimpembe will be much better.  Not to mention Ramos is a better CB than Kimpembe period.  Also, teams could press Gueye, Danilo and Paredes because they were so awful with the ball.  Verratti was the only with any ball skills.  Believe it or not, Wijnaldum is miles better with the ball than all those guys other than Verratti.

So automatically, they will be better defensively just in terms of defense on the flanks and ability to handle pressure.  How much better?  We'll see.  

There is a chance Marquinhos become a DM and you play Kehrer as a CB.  We'll see.

In previous runs? Yes, but adding Messi creates defensive issues.

I cant remember the specifics of PSG any more, too much time has passed. But just logically, Gueye, Danilo, Draxler and Di Maria behind Ney and Mbappe (as was in the Bayern game) you can see how that could be defensively solid from a structural point of view. Adding Messi into the mix for one of those midfielders will have a knock on effect.

Yes, the fullbacks may be weak, but even if strong they will have to solve that situation.

Marqinhos will be needed at the back, as I maintain, Ramos is done.