From our special correspondent at St James’ Park,
The trip to Newcastle, for the English city’s reunion with the Champions League, reeked of trap from miles away. And Paris Saint-Germain decided to jump in like a grown-up. The Parisians recovered (4-1 defeat) after a non-match which canceled the good start against Borussia Dortmund. The double confrontation against Milan will be crucial.
The four-way attack, messed up bet(s)
The Spanish coaching school has familiarized us with the genius and unpredictability of its tacticians. There was Pep Guardiola against OL in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, there is now Luis Enrique against Newcastle. On the scoresheet, his bet with four attackers produces an intimidating effect that will never be found on the field. The price to pay for simultaneously aligning Mbappé, Ramos, Kolo Muani and Dembélé on a field is the weakening of a midfielder at the mercy of the Magpies’ pressing, doped, as one could imagine, with the fervor of St. James’Park.
If Warren Zaire-Emery was able to attempt a few comebacks of which he has the secret, Ugarte, with little support, increased the number of dangerous ball losses. But the unforgivable will come from below. A quarter of an hour into the game, Marqinhos gave the opponent a filthy restart, which Gigio Donnarumma initially caught before losing to Miguel Almiron, who was passing by.
A contentious break (or not)
The first period was, overall, a long ordeal that Luis Enrique was unable to correct despite the numerous instructions given at the edge of the pitch. Paris does not exist offensively and gets eaten up in the duels like Hernandez, warmly installed in Almiron’s pocket. Donnarumma still saves the furniture until the Newcastle break (Burn, 39th), on a confusing action that the VAR took the time to validate. Furious, the Parisians demanded a handball from Lascelles in the area before the goal. The IFAB rules on unintentional offensive hands being what they are, they will collect nothing more than a yellow card.
Longstaff finishes the job
The second half had nothing better to offer than the first and PSG did not even deign to bluff: five minutes after the restart, local Sean Longstaff took advantage of a disagreement between Kolo-Muani and Ramos , to drive the point home. A beautiful story tailor-made for season 2 of We Are Newcastle. For the photo, we will prefer Schär’s praline in stoppage time, straight into the top corner, to definitively close the door timidly opened by the reduction of Lucas Hernandez’s score (56th). A nightmare to the end.