City 2, PSG 4: 32 Minutes Lost It. The Fix Was Sitting on the Bench

City lost 2-4 to PSG at the Etihad, and the game was gone by 32'. Doué scored at 13', Dembélé headed one in at 15', Vitinha made it 3-0 at 32', and in that first half PSG put 7 shots on target to our 1. Then Maresca made three changes at halftime and City won the second half 2-1, outshot PSG 21 to 5, and Haaland should have walked off with 4. Same stadium, same opponent, same scoreboard pressure. The difference was who was on the pitch. Maresca ran back the team that beat Liverpool into the best pressing side in Europe, and they found out exactly what we look like when someone actually presses us. The fix was sitting on the bench for 45 minutes.

I was hyped before kickoff, and I understood the selection. Gvardiol came in over O'Reilly because he's more physical against Dembélé and Doué. Khusanov came in for Nunes at right back to add pace behind Dias and Guéhi. Doku earned his start after demolishing Liverpool off the bench at the weekend, and with Haaland, Semenyo, Cherki, Enzo and Anderson all holding their places, this was the first real look at a full-strength Maresca side. I wanted to see Doku, who I think is the best winger in the world right now, go at Hakimi, and Semenyo go at Nuno Mendes. Best fullbacks on the planet against two of the best wide players in the league. That was the matchup I was excited about.

What we got instead was a lesson in pressing. PSG are drilled. They're in shape, they know where they're going, and they deal with a press better than anyone we've played. We hadn't been tested by a real high press yet this season, and the first few minutes were shaky. Gvardiol was the one guy who looked comfortable: in the first 7 minutes he showed up at center back, right back, defensive mid and as a 10, and he finished with 12 of 13 duels won. Then it fell apart. At 13' we got caught pressing, PSG played 3 passes out of their own half, Doué found half a yard of space and finished off Fabián Ruiz's pass. Two minutes later we lost the ball almost straight from the restart, one ball went into the half-space channel, Doué crossed it and Dembélé headed it in. Haaland tried to drag us back into it at 18' when he stole the ball and drove at 4 PSG players, and Pacho made a great tackle to stop it. By 21' our center backs kept getting pulled out of position and Dembélé had acres to run into. At 31' Hakimi headed a soft cross off the post, and a minute later Vitinha finished off Zaïre-Emery's pass to make it 3-0. PSG were playing unbelievable football, and we couldn't get out of our own half.

We hadn't been pressed like that all season, and it showed in about 15 minutes.

Enzo was the one who got exposed, and I said earlier in the season that a high press would find him. In the first half I'm not sure he touched the ball more than 3 or 4 times, and his marking was abysmal. It was basically Elliot Anderson alone against Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz. Then the second half happened and Enzo started playing football. Sofascore gave him an 8.0, with 6 key passes and a shot off the post at 71', and he also lost the ball 20 times. That's the whole story of his season so far. He disappears for long stretches, then he pops up and Sofascore gives him an 8. I can't get a read on him. He's not a traditional possession midfielder, he's not a traditional ball-winner, and he's not a traditional 10. He's better at all three of those than most players, but he's not Anderson as a holding midfielder, and against a press like this he got stuck on the ball and lost. What he's elite at is balls into the box and arriving late, and that's what we saw after halftime. Abysmal first half, good second half, 59 from me. Maybe it's a 65. Whatever it is, it's not what a £125m midfielder should look like against the best team in Europe.

Semenyo got a 30 from me, and I wanted him off at halftime. He gave the ball away with a bad pass at 8', missed a wide-open net at 11', put a terrible cross in at 23' and gave it away again at 78'. Sofascore has him at 1 shot on target from 6, 15 times losing the ball, and a yellow card at 61'. He has output, I know that, but I need more control from him: a better first touch and better decisions on the ball. Maresca took off Doku, Cherki and Dias instead. Doku coming off makes sense. We have to keep managing his fitness, and he'd spent 45 minutes against one of the best right backs in the world. But Ndiaye came on for him and made Hakimi look a lot less than the best. He completed 4 of his 8 dribbles, got 2 shots on target and set up Haaland's header at 53'. Ndiaye doesn't have Semenyo's clinical edge, but his work rate is the same, his first touch is better and one-on-one he's a beast. Watching the two of them on opposite wings showed the difference. Semenyo's leash is getting shorter every time Ndiaye gets a half like that. 72 from me.

The second half was a different game. City had 62% of the ball, 21 shots to PSG's 5, and 1.78 xG to their 0.96, per Sofascore. Haaland's header from Ndiaye's cross at 53' made it 3-1, which is the scoreline I said would be respectable at halftime. Then at 62' Donnarumma made a mistake and Akliouche scored PSG's 4th, and that killed the comeback. We kept going anyway. Enzo hit the post at 71', Haaland headed one off the post at 74', and a minute later he scored off Bouaddi's pass to make it 2-4. At 83' he had one cleared off the line. Haaland finished with 2 goals, 8 shots and 3 big chances missed, and FotMob made him player of the match with a 9.1. My 63 is about the misses, because he should have had 4.

The reason the second half worked is Ayyoub Bouaddi. He came on for Cherki at halftime, and at 19 years old he changed the game. With Bouaddi and Anderson as a double pivot, Bouaddi played deep as the playmaker and let Anderson do what Anderson does: cover an absurd amount of ground, play as a 6 out of possession and push up as an 8 in possession. Bouaddi completed 37 of his 40 passes, won the ball back 8 times, and set up Haaland's second. I don't think he starts the next big game over Enzo or Anderson yet. But in games like this one, where we need more control of the ball, that double pivot is the answer, and he showed it in one half. 75 from me, which is a high score for 45 minutes. Nunes came on for Dias at the same time and was steady, 28 of 31 passes and 2 key passes, and he gets a 70.

Donnarumma gets a 43 from me and a 5.3 from Sofascore, and the 4th goal is on him. Then at 90' he saved Ferran Torres's penalty, which at least kept the final score honest. One bad night doesn't change anything for me. He's still the best goalkeeper in the world. He had a rough one against a team that is unbelievable right now, and fair play to them.

The fix was sitting on the bench for 45 minutes.

The pressing problem is part real and part a one-half blip. Maresca went with the team that was great at Anfield, and against PSG that team was too forward-minded and not press-resistant enough in the middle, especially with Enzo in there. If we don't fix that, the problem gets bigger every time we play a team that presses like this. But the second half showed he already has the answer: Bouaddi next to Anderson, Ndiaye's legs on the wing, and a midfield that can actually keep the ball. Maresca gets a 52 from me, because the first-half setup cost us the game and his halftime changes almost won it back. I'm super proud of how the subs came on and changed it. If Donnarumma doesn't give away the 4th, this ends a lot more interesting than 2-4.