Paris — Paris Saint-Germain completed a disappointing week with a 1-1 draw at home to FC Nantes in Ligue 1 just days after a 1-0 loss away at Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League. Luis Enrique’s men might remain unbeaten and a provisional seven points clear of AS Monaco at the summit but they are now winless in two games and heading out of Europe at their current pace.
Goncalo Ramos returned to the starting XI for Les Parisiens and appeared to have an immediate impact with an assist for Achraf Hakimi’s early goal. However, the home side failed to kick on and got punished by Matthis Abline’s superb equalizer after 38 minutes which secured a valuable point for Antoine Kombouare’s visitors.
PSG did have their moments during the game to get a second goal and Patrik Carlgren was forced into a few saves but there were no further goals at Parc des Princes. This has been one of the major issues with this Paris team since Luis Enrique’s arrival and it is starting to be more and more costly — especially in continental competition.
“We totally dominated here against Nantes although they defended very well,” said the Spaniard postgame. “We were just missing that goal. The objective is to insist, insist and be more efficient. There were more missed chances in the second half. It was especially in the final phases that we lacked precision. The schedule is very difficult across Ligue 1 and the Champions League.”
It was the ninth time this season already that PSG have scored one goal or less in a game and this was against a struggling Nantes side that last won back in August. Les Canaris are on a wretched run of form but so too are the capital club’s players who cannot put games to bed no matter how impressive their xG or possession statistics are.
For the record, on this occasion, it was 2.56 to 0.65 in PSG’s favor with 10 shots on target and another eight off as well as six blocked from a whopping 84% possession. So how do you fail to score more than once when you are doing enough to theoretically score up to three times that amount?
That is the question that more or less sums up Luis Enrique’s tenure in the French capital although scoring prolifically was less of an issue last campaign. The goals were still relatively free-flowing back then and it was just a question of not scoring at the right moments but now there is a major risk — or greater probability — of not even scoring at all.
Main goal threat Ramos is finally back on the field but looked far from sharp having gotten just a few minutes under his belt in midweek against Bayern. The Portugal international’s clinical touch will return but the question is when and whether it will be in time to salvage PSG’s season — especially in the Champions League.
“Much depends on the profile of the striker. Goncalo is a real goal scorer — a box-based player. We asked him to be present around the box and to push the Nantes defense back,” added Luis Enrique. “We were better than Nantes,” Ramos said of the draw. “It was a difficult encounter because we did not manage to score more than one goal. We created many chances but we must keep our heads up and continue to work hard. It is just a question of finishing and staying calm in front of goal.”
How accurate Ramos’ assessment turns out to be could be decisive as that upturn in attacking output needs to start arriving now or things could start to unravel at pace but it cannot just come from the ex-SL Benfica man. A seven-point Championnat lead could be whittled down to four by Monaco away at Olympique de Marseille on Sunday while the UCL mission is simple: get at least seven points from a possible nine and ideally three wins to be almost sure of advancing to the knockouts
