PSG beat Aston Villa 2-1 at the Red Bull Arena, making it two Super Cup triumphs in a row for the French outfit.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia made it 1-0 in the 20th minute, smashing it past Marco Bizot down the middle after wrong footing him.
It was then Brian Madjo that made it 1-1 before half-time, scoring his first competitive goal for Aston Villa after arriving from Metz.
But PSG struck back in the second half, with Desire Doue making it 2-1 in the 61st minute, securing victory for Luis Enrique’s side.
In this article, we’ll cover
Villa’s containment plan vs PSG’s build
From restarts, Aston Villa would look to step onto PSG build up, with Luis Enrique’s side forming a 4-3-3 with all three midfielders lower.
Emery’s side looked to cover this with a diamond press, having one midfielder (Joao Gomes) advance with the two narrow wide men to cover the triple pivot.
George Hemmings and John McGinn took up hybrid roles to cover the inside midfield player and the outside full-back.
Boubacar Kamara would then step up to pick up the spare midfielder once play was shuttled to one side and the wide man released to apply pressure on the full-back.
This still gave Aston Villa a +1 in the last line against PSG’s front three, with Pau Torres often following Maghnes Akliouche deeper and Victor Lindelof covering the space.
In more settled phases of possession, Aston Villa took up more of a zonal 4-4-2 midblock, looking to block central access and force PSG down the sides.
As Aston Villa were pushed deeper, Gomes and Kamara did a brilliant job of tracking runs and blocking the gate between the ball side full-back and centre-back.
Despite conceding twice, Emery’s side looked well drilled defensively against the Parisians, until that second goal where they failed to get pressure on the ball with their line still high.
PSG wingers break it open
Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring to make it 1-0, receiving the ball from Doue at the top of the box in a 1v1 against Matty Cash.
From there, his first touch to receive was with the outside of his nearest foot (right), making the second touch with the same foot (right) instant to take it inside.
This caught created separation from Cash, allowing Kvaratskhelia to get his shot away, which he dragged back towards the keeper, who was expecting a curled effort to the far corner.
PSG’s second goal came from a poor defensive lapse from Aston Villa, who retained their high line without getting pressure on Ousmane Dembele who had space to pick a pass in behind.
Doue’s run in behind was timed just right, getting himself 1v1 with Bizot and finding the bottom left corner with a left-footed finish.
PSG’s pressing changes vs Villa build
Aston Villa built from the back in their usual 4-2-4/4-2-2-2 shape, with the two centre-backs splitting either side of the goalkeeper.
The double pivot sat low and narrow to create a 5v4 overload against the PSG front press, while the full-backs advanced past the midfield line.
However, PSG did something slightly different with their man to man scheme to usual.
The front press was the same, with the two wide men applying pressure from the front, jumping onto the Aston Villa centre-backs before arching their run to pressure the goalkeeper.
Akliouche then covered the double pivot alongside Vitinha, which is also common from last season, as Dembele would often do.
The difference came behind that front four in the press, as PSG used both of their central midfielders (aside from Vitinha) to cover the full-backs in hybrid positions, still having good access to the centre to recover if the ball came through.
With the back four then matched up against Aston Villa’s front four, as Marquinhos followed Buendia, even sometimes cross paths with Pacho who was on Madjo.
Last season, PSG often did this with Hakimi pressing high on the opposition left-back, while Neves would sit deeper as part of the back four to match up with the opposition front four.
Villa youngsters shine
The Aston Villa pair of Hemmings and Madjo in attack were just 19-years-old and 17-years-old respectively, both putting in respectable performances against PSG.
Hemmings had a tough task up against Hakimi down PSG’s right side, but managed to get the beating of him on a few occassions.
He got two shots off in the game (one on target and one blocked), made one key pass and worked hard off the ball, making six ball recoveries.
Madjo, standing at 6’4 upfront, was a handful for Pacho and the PSG defence, acting as a focal point for crosses and direct balls forward.
The young striker managed six shots in the game, being a nuisance in the box throughout, as was seen for his goal to make it 1-1 before half-time.
After a lovely cross from McGinn, Madjo battles his way past Pacho inside the box who was trying to hold him, before applying the near post finish on the volley.
Both Ollie Watkins and Tammy Abraham may have to watch out, because Madjo definitely looked ready for senior minutes this season against the European champions.