How to stop PSG's fluid attack
- Published
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, an explosive right-footed left winger, is one of football's most dangerous players and Arsenal will need to keep him quiet in Saturday's Champions League final (17:00 BST).
PSG under Luis Enrique are a very fluid side but follow certain rules as outlined in this tactical analysis of the side earlier in the season.
One of these ideas is that they have certain areas of the pitch they look to keep occupied throughout the game, including the two centre-back positions - both flanks and the centre-forward position - but who moves into these positions is less important.
The many rotations of different players into these areas help PSG pull apart the opposition's defensive shape.
In yellow, you see the five areas of the pitch PSG look to occupy at all times while there is more fluidity for the players positioned in the midfield areas. In this example, the striker position is occupied by one of the midfielders pushing up as Ousmane Dembele has dropped into a midfield position.
Kvaratskhelia naturally finds himself on the left touchline often. From here, his off-the-ball movement stands out.
In PSG's first leg against Bayern, Desire Doue dropped deep from the attacking line - a common movement to which Arsenal will need to be alert.
With Bayern's Dayot Upamecano less than touch-tight, Doue had time on the ball. Kvaratskhelia feinted to run in behind, then dropped short, then looked to run in behind, dropped short again before eventually running in behind.
These movements froze Bayern's full-back and Doue clipped a pass in behind for his team-mate to run on to before he cut inside and scored.
PSG's opening goal in their first-leg tie against Arsenal last season was eerily similar in its build-up too.
Arsenal, like Bayern, ended up in what looked like a 5-2-3 shape, pressing high.
One of the strikers, Dembele this time, dropped deep without being followed by an Arsenal centre-back despite the rest of Arteta's players generally defending in a man-to-man fashion.
Dembele brought the ball up the pitch before finding Kvaratskhelia running in behind on the left wing - who then assisted Dembele directly.
If Arsenal are to nullify PSG, in these situations they will have to commit to an approach.
This could be to stay very tight on the players who drop deep, so as not to give them time to find runners in behind, or they could drop off, letting them have the ball in certain areas but reducing the space in behind their defence.
After going 1-0 down in that first leg last season, Arteta tweaked his side's defensive approach, saying after the game that "we had one issue that we corrected after 15-20 minutes, that turned the game around".
Martin Odegaard's role in the press changed higher up the pitch making it harder for PSG to find their midfielders but the other key difference was the increased pressure and attention William Saliba applied to Dembele. He went man-to-man even when Dembele dropped very deep.
This echoes the sentiment of former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca who, after a 3-0 win against PSG in the Club World Cup, said: "The idea was to go man-to-man. PSG are so good that if you give them time you are going to struggle. You have to press them very intensely."
Read more on the tactics that could win Arsenal the Champions League
