Has PSG found the ideal formula for playing its magic square?

• Aligned together for the second time this season only, the Neymar-Icardi-Mbappé-Di Maria quartet had a perfect match.
• After long doubting the relevance of establishing this square, Thomas Tuchel is currently reviewing his position.
• For this to work, attackers must agree to make defensive efforts. Good news for Paris, it was the case against Sainté.

At the Parc des Princes,

How do you say in German "there are only idiots who do not change their mind", already? No, we ask the question because after the widespread boning of Saint-Etienne by PSG Wednesday evening in the Coupe de la Ligue (6-1) and the incredible performance of the magic square in front (Neymar, Mbappé, Di Maria and Icardi), the Parisian coach has proven that his prudence stops where the evidence begins.

After announcing at the start of the season that it would be difficult to play this quartet together without it being open bar behind, Thomas Tuchel is gradually reviewing its copy. No choice. With "four of the ten best in the world" at their disposal, says Marco Verratti in the mixed zone after the match, TT has more firepower than the United States, Russia and China combined.

Tuchel reviews its position

Wednesday evening, if the performance of the Icardi-Mbappé duo necessarily comes out a bit more (triplet and a dice for one, a goal and two dice for the other), the four friends all delivered a Ferrero match Rock. However, so far - at the beginning of December more precisely - Thomas Tuchel had been very careful when we asked him if he would be able to align this quartet without his team losing density and fighting in the middle.

After the draw snatched in late November in Madrid with a PSG in 4-4-2 (or 4-2-4 as soon as he has the ball) in the second period, the former BVB seemed to have made a reason. "Ask Marquinhos and Marco Verratti if they found it interesting to run the whole match so much," he said ironically, before detailing his thinking. For me, it is not balanced enough at this level. I think it is absolutely necessary with the three in the middle, and the four behind. I don't know if we can win a Ligue 1 match with four, five or six forwards. I do not believe, it is not possible. It would seem that, ultimately.

Tuchel tried to launch the cavalry at the Bernabeu, but he set his conditions https://t.co/8GudWmSScT

After Madrid, Tuchel however did not announce the hour of the death of the attack quartet. The proof, a fortnight later, he resounded the bet. Against Saint-Etienne, already. And for a not disgusting result (4-0 victory). Why such a change of act after the Madrid speech? Firstly because he understood that it would be more difficult to push one of his four stars on the bench than to settle the Iran-USA crisis and, above all, that to deprive himself of such an offensive power, “it's a shame for football ". It is not we who say it, it is Marco Verratti.

"We had to change our mentality"

But for this to work, no choice, Tuchel had to make the players in question understand that it was not Club Med when the ball was lost. As they are big boys, they quickly understood that all these efforts were in their interest. Mbappé: “There was an awareness, I think, after Madrid. We understood that it was not enough for players of this level to provide so little effort [in defensive withdrawal and recovery of the ball]. After that I will not go so far as to say that it is perfect but we are much better. It relieves the players behind who are much cooler for putting us better balls. It is a give and take, upon arrival everyone benefits from this situation. "

A little earlier, Verratti was already talking about this summit meeting, this click in the head. “We talked in the locker room after the match in Madrid, says Il Buffetto. We thought that if we wanted to continue playing in this system, we would have to make more efforts. We had to change our mentality and I want to congratulate the front four who were the first to defend this evening [Wednesday]. The last one to say hello in the mixed zone after the Saint-Etienne stroll, Mauro Icardi confirms in turn that Tuchel's message went well. Ball in hand (triplet obliges), the Argentinean explains "work a lot to play a total football" with his friends of attack.

“We try both to attack well but also to defend well. We know what we have to do, we are aware that if we want to play like this again in the future, we must help our defenders and the environment as much as possible, ”he concluded before leaving the Park. It remains to be seen whether Thomas Tuchel will dare to bring out this risky and devastating system next February, when the little music of the Champions League will sound against a Dortmund team far more dangerous than the summer camp in Saint-Etienne. We pay to see.

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• Sport
• Angel Di Maria
• Mauro Icardi
• Kylian Mbappé
• Thomas tuchel
• Neymar
• Soccer
• PSG