Ligue 1 Title Race Rumbles On As PSG Prove Wasteful In The Principality
It was a night to forget in Ligue 1 as the big clash failed to match the hype, but it's PSG who lost out more than hosts Monaco.
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Paris Saint-Germain’s wait to hit top spot in Ligue 1 continues after a frustrating 0-0 draw away at AS Monaco on Sunday. Laurent Blanc’s men created plenty of chances, but their finishing was below par once again as Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani and Javier Pastore all missed good opportunities to score.
Les Parisiens were dominant at Stade Louis II, bossing possession at 57% and shots on goal with 12 to their hosts’ six. However, as has often been the case this season, that was not enough.
"We played some good football. But in football, you have to convert your domination into goals, and that wasn't the case with my side tonight,” bemoaned Blanc after the match. “We have some players who score goals, but perhaps they're not scoring enough.”
“We had five or six chances tonight but we got none of them on target,” Le President continued. “We have to work on this but I hope we can keep creating as many opportunities we did tonight. It's not easy to get a point in Monaco, but given the match we played, one point isn't enough.”
Blanc has a point and in more than just a literal sense. For an attacking unit that boasted in excess of 120 million Euros of talent from the start on Sunday, despite the absence of suspended talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, such a wasteful display is unacceptable.
Of all 12 of those attempts made on Les Monegasques’ goal by PSG, just two were on target. Cavani saw one first half effort very well saved by home goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, but failed to even hit the target with another good opening in the first 45.
Lavezzi missed arguably the best chance of the game when well placed and was incapable of even testing the Croat international, while Pastore also wasted a glorious opening when he dinked his effort over the Monaco custodian and wide of the post in the second half.
It was monotonous and underwhelming as a spectacle, despite a relatively good crowd at the normally soulless Stade Louis II. But even though the principality is a tough place for any team to go, both domestically and in Europe, it was a chance that PSG really needed to take and ultimately failed to do so.
Olympique de Marseille’s incredible collapse at home to Stade Malherbe Caen in Friday’s 3-2 defeat and Olympique Lyonnais’ 2-1 loss in Lille are gift results that will not come along too often between now and the end of the season.
How many more chances do Blanc and his players think they will get?
While it was a disappointing evening from a PSG perspective, though, it was a satisfactory result for Monaco and their coach Jardim. Following their midweek UEFA Champions League heroics, Les Monegasques were expected to be tired and incapable of raising their game to a similarly high level just four days later.
The hosts were clearly fatigued, but they still managed to produce the same sort of defence-first display that has made them so difficult to beat at home this season.
"I'm satisfied with the result; Monaco weren't better than PSG,” Jardim admitted after the game. “I saw a big difference between the sides because my team were exhausted after the Champions League. That's understandable after playing a high-level match like we did in Arsenal on Wednesday.”
“Tonight, we played the top team in the league, so it's a point won for us,” the Portuguese added. “On Wednesday (a Coupe de France quarterfinal between the pair at Parc des Princes) we'll try to play a good match. Both sides will have the same time to recover, but we're more fatigued than PSG and we'll have to find solutions when we pick our team."
With some luck, Wednesday’s encounter will be less mind-numbing than last Sunday’s.
However, few can argue that Monaco’s largely negative style of play has not produced results. After a summer that saw star names such as Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez leave, Jardim has done incredibly well to steady the ship and make European qualification a possibility.
These sorts of tight, low-scoring affairs have become the Portuguese tactician’s trademark in France so far and the 40-year-old has managed to make the principality outfit extremely hard to beat. If the defence can maintain its current watertight form and the team can make sure that opponents continue to fear their trips to the French Riviera, then a top three finish remains a possibility.
Monaco away has historically been a difficult fixture for PSG and the capital club’s unenviable record at Stade Louis II has been extended to just four wins from 41 games played in all competitions.
If Blanc’s men can create as many chances as they did on Sunday night, then they will win the majority of their remaining games. However, the ease with which they secure those wins depends on their attacking players being able to find the target in future.
Even developing a ruthless streak in front of goal might not be enough now though. While Marseille are rapidly starting to fall away in the title race, Lyon’s loss at Lille is still likely to have only been a minor blip in an otherwise excellent season.
There is no guarantee that Hubert Fournier’s men will be dropping points again soon, although Les Gones are currently enduring a difficult run of away fixtures. Whoever fares better out of PSG and Lyon’s upcoming away games at Marseille could - realistically - decide this title.
One thing is for sure; Marcelo Bielsa’s men will not be as forgiving - at least in attack - as Monaco if the defending French champions have not managed to find their shooting boots by the time they travel to Stade Velodrome early next month.