Paris Saint-Germain Feminine have been trying to close the gap with Olympique Lyon for several seasons but have fallen short for several seasons. After taking a quick review of the playing squad, one player and position stood out which required change. This analysis is a continuation of Gavin Robertson’s tactical analysis on Paris Saint-Germain Feminine’s playing style, detailing their areas of improvement. The areas he highlighted that needed some improvement was that of central midfield and left-wing. Midfield is an area that creates a base for any team to build off of for both defence and attack. Having a competent midfield double-pivot or trio allows a team to build their strategy and tactics and add focus to the way the manager wants them to play. Whether it be a counter-pressing, counter-attacking, possession-based or wide-based systems, having a midfield to facilitate this determines the success rate of these tactics working out. Their rivals Olympique Lyon are blessed with two of the best defensive midfielders in the world in Amandine Henry and Saki Kumagai. The double-pivot provides Lyon with a base on which they can build and allow the wealth of attacking talent to flourish. Similarly, PSG will need similar quality if they want to compete and close the gap between themselves and the French giants.
In this series, we are focusing on PSG Feminines issues in central midfield. Gavin specifically pinpointed Brazilian midfielder Formiga as the point of change. While she has been an outstanding performer for most of her career, she has entered the twilight stages of her career and will inevitably call time on her playing career given her age 41 years of age to be exact. The squad already possesses a number of central midfielders of different profiles. Most notably Grace Geyoro and Sara Däbritz, however, neither player possesses the skillset Formiga brings to the team. The Brazilian is an all-action defensive-minded, passing midfielder who plays at the base of midfield. While the other central midfielders have these individual qualities, she collates these skills and gives PSG a different dynamic. Given how important the player has been to PSG and their need to find a suitable replacement as soon as possible.
In light of the above, we feel Paris Saint-Germain Feminine are in need of an explosive box-to-box midfielder who is equally proficient in transitions, defensive capacity, and offensive capacity. We will first perform data analysis to compare and filter out three potential transfer targets.
Squad comparison
Firstly, it’s important to do a high-level comparison between Formiga and the current central midfielders in the squad to gauge the level of player in question. PSG currently have three other midfielders in their ranks that play in a central or defensive midfield role. Geyoro, Däbritz, and Aminata Diallo are the three other players, however, each have their own skillset. Geyoro usually slots in as a half-back and forms part of a back five. Most of her work remains in a defensive capacity rather than an attacking one. Däbritz is an efficient link player, taking in a number of passes and bringing other more attacking players into play. Diallo is a young, defensive midfielder but is still gathering experience and learning from the more experienced players in the squad.
Initial data validation
It’s difficult to find a player that can replicate all the metrics of a box-to-box midfielder that is equally proficient defensively as they offensively. The best player in the world in this regard would arguably be Henry, but playing for PSG’s rivals Lyon would make any transfer very very unlikely. For the initial data check, I have picked 14 of the best central and defensive midfielders and compared them against Formiga across a set range of metrics. For this comparison, I have used: defensive duels, recoveries, forward passes, and progressive runs. These four metrics are the closest data points that replicate the numbers of a box-to-box midfielder that can progress and transition possession from defence to attack through runs and passing.
The players used in this analysis include Allie Long, Andrine Hegerberg, Caroline Weir, Katie Zelem, Lia Walti, Morgan Brian, Maéva Clemaron, Sofie Junge-Pedersen, Sam Mewis, Sandie Toletti, Sophie Vaysse, Lindsay Horan, Kheira Hamraoui, and Veronica Boquete. Taking a wide range of players from across the top European and American leagues ensured I had a good mix of players to find the best fit.
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