Against Monaco, Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain, the 55-year-old club’s coach, delivered a far more effective attacking performance than some initial reactions suggested. It’s worth noting that PSG lost 1-3. According to match statistics, Paris had 53 touches in the opposition’s penalty area, compared to 19 for Monaco, their second-highest total of the season.
Against Monaco yesterday, PSG had 53 touches in the opposition’s penalty area (19 for Monaco).
This is their second-highest total of the season (behind the 62 against Nice)”
This is where the contrast becomes interesting: PSG’s performance wasn’t a complete disaster, but their output tells a different story. Touching the ball 53 times in the opposition’s penalty area isn’t the volume of a non-existent team, much less a unit incapable of getting near the goal. On the other hand, it also proves that such a number should have produced far more in terms of concrete threat, technical precision, and composure in the final third.
In other words, the facts contradict the idea of a totally “pathetic” performance, but they also confirm a very marked inefficiency. This is perhaps even more worrying for Paris: there was presence, territory, and repetition, but too little precision to transform this territorial dominance into a real sporting punishment.
