Paris Saint-Germain beat Chelsea 5-2 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, making a comeback at Stamford Bridge against the odds.
Liam Rosenior made some big choices in regards to his tactical approach. It led to his side generating a higher Expected Goals tally than PSG on the night (1.53 to PSG’s 0.87), with the same number of shots (nine) and a lower percentage of the ball (42%).
So what exactly went wrong for Rosenior’s Blues?
In this article, we’ll cover
Blow for blow approach
PSG looked to take the game to Chelsea, with the Blues hoping to pick them off in their aggressive press. It led to a fairly open game, with seven goals from 2.4 xG.
Luis Enrique wanted his side to be aggressive both on and off the ball, applying an intense man-for-man pressing scheme across the pitch.
This saw both Joao Neves and Achraf Hakimi take up key roles, man-marking Chelsea’s double pocket players, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer.
PSG’s press meant that they matched up with Chelsea’s front five on the ball. But this gave Rosenior’s side the opportunity to utilise the goalkeeper in a 6v5 in their own defensive third.
The plan was clearly for Chelsea to withstand the intense pressure, use their +1 to overload that press, find the spare man and collapse the press that way, forcing one of PSG’s last line to jump out.
But with the game following a clear pattern, as Chelsea continuously looked to break those lines and find the space between the two units, it led to either Rosenior’s side having space to break into, or PSG regaining possession and being able to break the other way at pace.
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Rosenior’s Jorgensen punt fails
A large part of the tactical plan was reliant on Rosenior’s big choice between the sticks. He opted for Filip Jorgensen who has only managed 10 appearances all season, rather than Robert Sanchez who has been Chelsea’s clear No.1 all season.
The Chelsea boss made a comment after the game, stating: “They have different (Sanchez and Jorgensen), Rob is outstanding from crosses and an outstanding shot-stopper. Filip has amazing qualities too.
“One of the reasons we won at (Aston) Villa was because we were so calm in possession. If you can stay calm here and play through the press, we can have our moments and we did.”
This comment clearly indicates the reason Rosenior chose to go with Jorgensen, wanting to use that +1 in the build up to pick off their aggressive press.
However, while there were a number of occasions the usage of Jorgensen did come to fruition, allowing Chelsea to create and invade the space they desired from their strategy, the risk that comes with the reward cost the Blues when PSG took a 3-2 lead after a Jorgensen error.
To compound this, as Rosenior stated, Sanchez is a top shot-stopper. But Jorgensen conceded five goals from a total of nine shots with a total value of 0.87 xG.
Rest defence issues
Both sides had rest defence issues in the match. Each team’s second goal presented clear rest defence details which will likely be highlighted in tactical sessions following this game.
PSG often play in a fairly aggressive manner, so seeing their four-man rest defence was no surprise, but with both full-backs advancing early in possession, the channels were a clear area for Chelsea to exploit.
Pedro Neto was able to win the ball back from Desire Doue, exposing the right channel for the Portuguese winger to burst into, as Hakimi was already advanced.
This forced Marquinhos to cover the channel, coming over to stop Neto, who managed to engage him at the hips before bursting towards the box and providing a cutback for Fernandez who was arriving off the back of Warren Zaire-Emery.
Individual quality
Ultimately, PSG won this game through their individual quality in attacking areas, providing moments to punish the Blues when they had the chance.
Ousmane Dembele returned from injury to start against Chelsea, scoring the goal to make it 2-1 in the first half.
But it was Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who replaced Doue after 62 minutes that stole the show, breaking Chelsea’s hearts with two goals and an assist with just 14 touches of the ball.
While a 5-2 scoreline doesn’t tell the story of the game, Rosenior’s game plan allowed PSG’s forwards to decide the game with these moments, while the Jorgensen choice clearly had its effect in a negative capacity.