There is a gulf between PSG and Arsenal – Luis Enrique's side need to hit that level

Luis Enrique did not shy away from the fact that his Paris Saint-Germain team did not come close to competing with Arsenal on Tuesday night. There was no masking of the reality check provided by Mikel Arteta’s side, no equivocation on the schooling on show. 

“Arsenal were better in terms of intensity, pressure, and they won every duel,” said Luis Enrique. “Effectively after the second goal they decided to defend more deeply, take fewer risks, but overall they deserved the win and we deserved the defeat.”

This performance underlined Arsenal should be regarded as one of the most complete sides in Europe. But for a new-look PSG, it illuminated the gulf that exists between themselves and the very best.

Arsenal controlled this 2-0 win with an unerring ease. They were content to allow PSG to retain possession but never permitted them access to their back four, let alone their penalty area. They picked their moments to press and to force the visitors to go direct, and then easily swept up the direct pass, led by William Saliba and Gabriel. On the right, Jurrien Timber shackled Bradley Barcola, PSG’s normally uncontainable left winger. PSG had no answer, as they struggled without a clear focal point — Kang-in Lee struggled as a false nine — and missed the creative influence of Ousmane Dembele.

Dembele, who was omitted from the travelling squad by Luis Enrique for disciplinary reasons in the aftermath of the team’s 3-1 win over Rennes on Friday, dominated the pre-match discussion. He is a key player for the French champions, perhaps their most creative influence. They were always likely to become disjointed with him out of the team.

But therein lies the contrast between the two sides. Arsenal were also missing their creator-in-chief, the injured Martin Odegaard. But they adapted, striking up a partnership between Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz. Adapting is what may set Arsenal apart. Arteta’s side are accustomed to dominating possession but are willing to cede it when required, like at Manchester City when reduced to 10 men last month or here against PSG where they timed their pressing and unpicked their opponent’s game plan. When Timber had to be replaced at the interval, as a precaution according to Arteta, they were unmoved by the prospect of Riccardo Calafiori, a left-sided defender, swapping into an unfamiliar right-back role to face down PSG’s biggest threat in Barcola. He continued to preserve their clean sheet. Arsenal can be pragmatic to ensure events do not knock them off course, indicative perhaps of a firmly embedded winner’s mindset that is yet to take root in Paris. 

Arsenal are now into the sixth season under Arteta and their development has been eye-catching. It drew praise from Luis Enrique before the game. “He’s one of the best coaches,” he said of Arteta. “He’s changed Arsenal’s fortunes, from a somewhat winless streak to one of the best teams in the world competing for titles.”

Arteta has tracked his team’s progress by coining ‘phases’, and it is evident now that they are nearing his ‘Phase Five’, the final level, with really only more silverware standing between them and recognition of this fact. But over time they have become a complete product, a team truly comfortable in their own skin, equipped to deal with various scenarios and possessing a certainty about their strengths. They are exceptional from set plays — the best in the world according to Luis Enrique. That they scored with their first set piece of the evening was entirely predictable but so too was it entirely predictable that PSG would concede, given their fallibilities in this area. These are two teams at different ends of the scale. Arteta might have kept the details of his phases completely private, but it’s easy to see that if Arsenal are hitting the marks required by phase four, PSG are very much in phase two at best.

Part of the evolution at Arsenal has seen choppy waters navigated. None were perhaps more striking than how Arteta moved on from star man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or replaced the popular goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with David Raya. That was perhaps a relevant backdrop to discussing PSG’s development, as Luis Enrique laid down the law to Dembele on Friday, who “did not comply with his responsibilities to the team” per the Spanish coach.  It was a step taken not only towards preserving his own authority but also ensuring that PSG’s recent past, dominated by player power, would be condemned to history. 

“You think that making a team is easy, that it’s about pressing a button and choosing the eleven best players et voilà? No. Making a team is about taking into account a series of circumstances. Yesterday, I had to make a difficult decision (on Dembele) but one that I consider to be the best for the team. I could make that decision a hundred more times if I had to. That doesn’t mean that the situation is irreversible, but it’s the best decision for the team. I signed for PSG last season to create a team. And I can guarantee that I’m going to create a team until the last day I’m in Paris.”

PSG may have invested heavily since changing their approach to squad-building but they have made strides. There is a distinct playing identity emerging, that of a young team that dominates possession — no side saw more of the ball in last year’s Champions League — and also work hard off the ball. No team allowed an opponent fewer seconds on the ball than PSG in last year’s Champions League (passes per defensive action — 9.2). Compared to previous years, that is a monumental U-turn. “You can see it’s his team,” said Arteta pre-match.

But flaws remain, both in their approach and also perhaps in some incongruent parts. Another shaky European showing for goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, for example, a player long-questioned for his ability with the ball at his feet, only furthers debate particularly with a new €20million goalkeeper, Matvey Safonov, sitting on the bench. A pertinent Raya-Ramsdale comparison, perhaps.

There are more bumps in the road ahead for Luis Enrique and it will take time to move through the ‘phases’. But Arsenal showed on Tuesday what the end-stage looks like. And it is clear that PSG are not there yet.

“I cannot evaluate it (on that scale),” said Luis Enrique. “Mikel Arteta is in his fifth year. I have been managing this team for one year and two months. I don’t know where we are. I have a clear idea of where I want to be. But I don’t know how much time I am going to need.”

(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)