After a fast start to the season, Paris Saint-Germain has cooled off with a loss to Arsenal FC in the UEFA Champions League and a draw away to OGC Nice. Many supporters question Luis Enrique’s tactics, but there’s a missing piece that is slowing down PSG’s attack.
Last season, PSG could rely on Kylian Mbappé to break through an opponent’s defense and pull off a miracle goal alone. Because of this, many new SA betting sites favor Mbappé’s new team, Real Madrid, to win the UEFA Champions League. PSG has a massive gulf of goals to make up and thus far, the attack has been disjointed at best.
Bradley Barcola is the player who replaced Mbappé on the left wing and while he does have four goals this season, the scoring chances have dried up. Ousmane Dembélé’s struggles in front of goal have continued despite consistently beating his defender and working himself into dangerous positions.
For me, it’s the absence of Gonçalo Ramos that has stalled the PSG attack. The 23-year-old striker went down with a serious ankle injury in PSG’s first match and hasn’t returned to the squad. Since the injury, Luis Enrique has experimented with a false nine—playing Marco Asensio and Kang-In Lee in the position. Asensio had some early success but when down with an injury as well. Lee has had flashes of success, but against Arsenal, he was isolated and never really impacted the game.
Randal Kolo Muani would be the ideal replacement for Ramos, but the Frenchman has not impressed since his arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2023. Kolo Muani has never looked settled in Luis Enrique’s system and considering his transfer fee, €95 million, fans have high expectations for him.
Ramos is the ideal striker for PSG because he’s physical enough to hold up play, he has a relentless work effort, and he has an uncanny ability to get in front of goal and score easy tap-ins. Last season, Ramos scored 14 goals in 40 appearances. It’s important to keep in mind that Ramos typically came off the bench and was still able to impact the match.
Once Ramos returns to the lineup, I expect the front three to be Barcola, Ramos, and Dembélé, with Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi coming up from the full-back position to join the attack. That is the formation fans are waiting for, and I think the return of a prototypical striker will unlock the goalscoring for the second half of the season.
