beIN SPORTS

By Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip)

It has been a far from ideal start to life for Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani under new coach Unai Emery.

On paper, the Spaniard appears to be the ideal figure to finally get the Uruguayan back on track. However, the 44-year-old tactician’s first few months in charge will have shown him the size of the task ahead if Cavani is to be resurrected.

El Matador’s preseason was unconvincing. The former Napoli man scored one goal in PSG’s three International Champions Cup outings in the USA, a penalty in the final match against Leicester City, but looked short of confidence against Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

After that, Cavani suffered an ill-time thigh injury and the problem ruled him out of the French champions’ first two competitive games under Emery. 

Les Parisiens thrashed Olympique Lyonnais 4-1 to lift the Trophee des Champions once again and then won 1-0 away at SC Bastia to launch their Ligue 1 season.

Cavani returned to action for the 3-0 victory over FC Metz at Parc des Princes but he may well have wished that he had been unavailable for one more week.

The 29-year-old’s performance against the newly promoted side was catastrophic and arguably one of, if not the, worst displays from him in a PSG shirt.

Speaking after the match, Cavani admitted that he had missed a number of good opportunities and needed to work harder.

“Yes, I had a lot of opportunities,” he told the press post-match. “The most important thing is that we won though. We worked on a lot of things in training this week and it was good to get a win for the team's motivation and peace."

"We will continue to work. It is a match, my first after my injury (thigh). I hope to improve. It is just one match and we still have things we need in order to grow. That is football, it is like that - particularly for attackers."

While Cavani was hard on himself after such an inept display in front of goal, though, Emery took a different approach. The Basque chose to praise his No. 9, calling him “the best player on the pitch,” no doubt referring to his tireless efforts rather than his missed chances.

Since the South American’s Metz nightmare, Cavani has finally gotten off the mark for the campaign with a consolation header in PSG’s 3-1 away defeat at AS Monaco but he was still profligate at Stade Louis II.

Speaking after the Champions League group stage draw, the capital club’s chairman and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi asserted that there will not be any other new additions and the 42-year-old stayed true to his word; no striker to compete with Cavani arrived before the transfer window closed.

The Qatari’s declaration is a statement of confidence in the man from Salto and that, along with the Monaco goal, will give him a boost as the Champions League gets underway and the team tries to recover their loss in the principality domestically.

PSG choosing to believe in the man they paid €64 million for back in 2013 is all well and good but the time has come for the Uruguayan to actually start performing and living up to his substantial price tag.

Despite his goal against Les Monegasques, Cavani was still largely poor. El Matador missed a number of good chances and was even berated by his own teammates at one point.

With no Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Paris to share the limelight with, the predator turned prey has no excuses for failing to perform in the way that he did against Metz and Monaco when played in his preferred central striking role.

Admittedly, Cavani is still getting back to his best after his recent thigh injury but even that is not an excuse for his woeful efforts in his first two appearances. 

It simply was not good enough and will not be tolerated for much longer by a club with lofty and perhaps unrealistic Champions League ambitions this term.

Cavani has traditionally fared better against the bigger sides in Ligue 1 and has a taste for the important matches, such as Lyon and Olympique de Marseille. AS Saint-Etienne’s visit to Parc des Princes after the international break could not be coming at a better time for the goal-shy striker.