Chelsea vs PSG: A Cursory Analysis of our Opposition

It is remaining just few hours to go. The historic showdown will take off. Let us have a cursory look at our opposition (PSG)- their strengths and weaknesses. David Luiz has made a lot of Indications that he will not leave any stone unturned in seeing Chelsea off the Champions league. Therefore we have to take the bull by the horn and prove him wrong.

Here is a look at the PSG team as compiled by weaintgotnohistory.com

Strengths

Although PSG do not always appear to be on the same wavelength, they're a solid unit with all the characteristics of a top European side. They know how they're supposed to attack and how they're supposed to defend and, when motivated, they do their jobs diligently. They're usually excellent at set pieces in both attack and defence, so Chelsea scoring shortly after a dead-ball in the first leg was a surprise.
They maintain possession very well and, although they don't press particularly hard or make lots of tackles, they restrict their opponents to a low number of shots on their goal with clever positioning in midfield and pure quality in the centre of defence.
As well as that, PSG have star power: they've got Ibrahimović, Cavani, Lavezzi, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and David Luiz. It's a team crammed with elite-level talent, most of it capable of turning a game on its head with a decisive contribution.

Weaknesses

The problem, as it so often is atnouveau richeclubs, is that they've bought a squad of famous names with no shared way of playing. What suits Zlatan Ibrahimović, for example, doesn't work at all for Edinson Cavani. The way Blaise Matuidi sees the game is very different to Marco Verratti's vision of football. David Luiz is incapable of playing any way but his own, which makes fitting him into an organised unit very hard indeed. While PSG do a passable impression of a good team, it's hard not to look at the names on the teamsheet and think they should be so much better.
Another issue is that with no existing culture of success at the club, no history or narrative driving them on, it's easy for the players to stop caring. They'd rather be at Barcelona or Real Madrid – and most of them are talented enough to have got moves to those clubs – and yet they find themselves being paid €200,000 per week to play in stadiums that barely hold 20,000 people. This shouldn't be an issue against Chelsea in the Champions League, but the fact is that morale rarely appears to be high at PSG.

What they need is a Mourinho-like figure to create the winning culture of constant self-improvement, but they've got Blanc instead, who appears less-and-less like a top-level manager with every passing season. One suspects thatLe Président'stime will be up as soon as a better coach becomes available. Mourinho should get the better of him fairly easily.

Likely 11

The $64,000 question for Blanc is "where does David Luiz start?" If he starts in midfield, as he did in the first leg, then Marquinhos will play in the centre of defence and Gregory Van Der Wiel will play at right-back. The safer option, however, would be to put Marquinhos up against Hazard, bring David Luiz back into the middle and let the more trustworthy Thiago Motta protect the back four.
The only other question mark is over Lavezzi, who has been playing like a child that's only just discovered football. Pastore has been in incredible form, but it would be a big shock if Blanc prioritised Pastore's artistry over Lavezzi's work-rate.

Prediction

Chelsea come into the game as clear favourites but the first leg proved that the two sides are better matched than many anticipated. The Blues should go through, but PSG have too many match-winners to write them off entirely.