In fact, since Paris Saint-Germain lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage, Blanc's life has become increasingly difficult.
Because this means that they can only finish second in the group and face the stronger group first in the knockout rounds.
And when they were unlucky enough to draw Chelsea, the least trivial team in the group, Blanc's pressure increased.
Because club chairman Nasser no longer cares who you play, he only has one hard target, which is to require the team to make a breakthrough in the Champions League, at least to enter the semi-finals!
As for the results in the league, it is just a tack on now. Even if you can remain undefeated, even if you can win the championship eight rounds ahead of schedule, it won't work!
This is mainly because since Qatar Group took over Paris Saint-Germain, it has failed in the Champions League quarter-finals almost every time and has always been blocked from the top four of the Champions League.
Therefore, Nasser is determined to create the best Champions League record in the team's history this time, otherwise, the coach will be fired!
The question is, is it that easy?
To advance to the semi-finals, you must first advance to the semi-finals.
And if you want to enter the quarterfinals, you have to get past Chelsea...
But Blanc also knows that the upcoming two Champions League knockout rounds will really determine his fate in Paris Saint-Germain.
Last season, he led Paris Saint-Germain to win four championships: Ligue 1, French Cup, French League Cup, and French Super Cup, monopolizing all domestic championships;
But because he was eliminated by Chelsea in the Champions League round of 16, Nasser did not give him a good look.
This season, Blanc also hopes to complete the domestic quadruple crown for the second consecutive season, but this will not satisfy the appetite of Paris Saint-Germain's top brass.
Therefore, if you want to prove yourself and keep your job, you must beat Chelsea!
"Playing against Pan Yi's Chelsea is nothing more than two ways of thinking."
In the coach's office at the Paris Saint-Germain training base, chief assistant coach Kamara is giving his suggestions for the knockout rounds.
Kamara is a member of the old Paris Saint-Germain team. He played for Paris Saint-Germain for many years as a player.
He joined Paris Saint-Germain from Saint-Etienne in the summer of 2007 and played for the team until his retirement in 2015.
Since retiring in 2015, he has been serving as the assistant coach of Paris Saint-Germain. In fact, it was not his fault that the subsequent Paris head coaches were replaced. He later also worked with Emery, Tuchel and others.
It is precisely because he is a famous player in Paris and has a very strong relationship with the players. The players affectionately call him "Papus", so he has always played an important role in the coaching staff.
"Which two are they?" Kamala continued:
"One is to play pass and control, try to keep the ball at your feet, and then beat Chelsea through patient organization."
"But to be honest, we don't have any advantage in this aspect. In the Premier League, Manchester City and Arsenal, which have always been known for their ability to control the ball, found it difficult to take advantage of Chelsea."
"In today's world football, perhaps only MSN + Habaib's Barcelona can play like this with Chelsea. There may be another team, and that is Guardiola's Bayern."
"And our players are still far behind Chelsea in terms of ability in this area."
The current midfield of Paris Saint-Germain is mainly composed of Matuidi, Motta, Verratti, and new aid Di Maria.
As for the forward line, there are tall centers like Ibrahimovic and Cavani.
Speaking of technology, they are definitely pretty good.
But it is still unrealistic to say that it can reach the level of Barcelona at its peak and play frightening passing and controlling football.
It is even more impossible to switch to a pass-and-control style in front of Pan Yi's Chelsea.
"The other way is to focus on defense and wait for counterattacks like other teams do."
Except for a few teams such as Barcelona and Bayern, most teams that met Pan Yi adopted the latter style of play, but there are differences.
For example, some teams will try to take the lead in attacking, disrupt the opponent's position, and then defend and counterattack, while others will concentrate on defending, stabilizing their position and then counterattacking, or they may really try to make a big move and just try not to lose. The ball, not scoring.
In short, the same set of ideas, but different playing styles.
Blanc knew in his heart that although Kamara gave him two ideas of play, he was actually leaning towards the second one.
Does he have a choice?
He had a head-to-head confrontation with Chelsea last season and knew the opponent's abilities very well.
A year has passed, and the basic lineups of the two teams have not changed much.
Paris has added Di Maria and is a bit stronger, but Chelsea has Harry Kane, Goretzka, and the sudden emergence of Mbappe...
It feels like Chelsea's enhancement is even greater, and the richness of tactical changes is also higher.
However, if Paris Saint-Germain chooses to play defensive counterattack, can it defend it?
Although Blanc did not say it explicitly, everyone in the coaching room understood the worries in the head coach's heart at this moment.
It can even be said that all teams in the world will have such worries when they encounter Pan Yi's Chelsea.
"Even if we fight counter-attacks, we cannot give up all control to Chelsea. Countless games have told us that when playing against Chelsea, the midfielder must suppress the opponent."
Blanc thought for a moment and said.
The last team to not lose to Chelsea is Arsenal.
At that time, Wenger adopted a tactic of competing with Chelsea in the midfield but being careful not to overwhelm them all.
Although they failed to score a goal, this tactic also curbed Chelsea's offensive firepower and eventually achieved a draw.
Of course, it is not easy to play back and forth with Chelsea in the midfield.
The more commonly used formation of Paris Saint-Germain this season is 4-3-3. In the midfield, the combination of Matuidi, Motta and Verratti is usually used.
Among these three, Motta is often asked to play as a single defensive midfielder, while Matuidi and Verratti form an inverted triangle position in front of him, playing the duties of two central midfielders.
The problem is that from the perspective of Motta playing as a defensive midfielder, he is capable of dealing with the teams in Ligue 1, but once he encounters a strong team, it will be difficult for him to be effective, and he will be easily suppressed by his opponents.
Losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage was like that.
At that time, Real Madrid's three midfielders, Kroos, Casemiro, and Modric, all focused on suppressing Motta. This also made Paris Saint-Germain's midfield not run smoothly and eventually lost.
Facing Chelsea, Pan Yi will definitely do the same, which will be a big challenge for Paris Saint-Germain.
"Then withdraw Di Maria and use four midfielders to correspond to Chelsea's three midfielders. Maybe that will work." Camara said.
Everyone also thinks this is a good method.
Since Paris Saint-Germain has Cavani and Ibrahimovic, two of the world's top centers, when using 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, it is often difficult for these two forwards to coexist;
Even if they coexist, Cavani will be asked to play as a winger. To be honest, it is a bit of a waste of his center attributes.
If you play 4-4-2, there will be no such problem.
But this will also create another problem, that is, when playing with a four-midfielder, Paris' midfield defense will indeed be good, but the offensive effect will be compromised.
Mainly because Ibrahimovic and Cavani are actually somewhat repetitive in function.
They all belong to the kind of forwards who can be a fulcrum in the frontcourt and a terminator, but compared with traditional wingers, their breakthrough and passing abilities are of course inferior.
Blanc is certainly aware of his team's problems, but what he cares more about is whether he can stop Chelsea's attack?
Although it sacrifices the team's offense, using four midfielders to suppress Chelsea's three midfielders is not a bad thing.
——
"Paris Saint-Germain is currently suffering from the problem of having too many stars in the frontcourt."
At the Cobham training base, Pan Yi is also conducting a pre-match tactical analysis meeting with the coaching staff.
"Paris Saint-Germain has such a problem. They always blindly pile up superstars, but fail to effectively exert the effect of the combination of players."
This is really an old problem for the Paris team.
I really have money, but I really don’t know how to spend it.
From the first day they took over the team, the problem of strong offense and weak defense has not been solved, nor has the problem of too large a gap between the main players and substitutes.
In Pan Yi's previous life, Paris formed a super luxurious attack line of Neymar + Messi + Mbappe. If this team claims to be second in world football, no team would dare to claim to be first.
But what about their midfield?
In addition to Verratti, who has always been there, the others are Soler, Pereira, Vitinha, Ruiz...
To be honest, I don’t even know who they are from Ligue 1.
The same is true for Paris in this current timeline.
In addition to world-class forwards like Cavani and Ibrahimovic, the forward line also has powerful players like Lavezzi and Lucas Jr. as substitutes.
The main midfielder of Motta, Matuidi, Verratti and Di Maria is pretty good, but what about the substitutes?
On the defense line, only the main central defender Thiago Silva can be considered world-class. The 21-year-old Marquinhos can only be said to be okay, while the full-backs only have Kurzawa, Maxwell, and Van der Wiel. This level.
The main goalkeeper Siligu, to be honest, is just like that, otherwise he would not be able to join the middle and lower reaches of Serie A.
How could a team with ambitions to perform in the Champions League end up in such a situation when building the team, and it hasn't changed for many years?
It can only be said that Paris Saint-Germain does have problems in its high-level operations.
Pan Yi actually couldn't figure it out. Wouldn't they copy their homework?
Let’s not talk about Chelsea under Pan Yi now, let’s just talk about the normal timeline. Look at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, including Atletico Madrid, these teams that have been competitive in the Champions League in recent years, which one does not have three lines? Balanced in strength?
Perhaps Paris Saint-Germain mainly depends on whether there is any gimmick when buying someone, and whether it can attract the attention of the media and fans.
But the problem is that if this is your goal, don’t force yourself to achieve results.
After all, your lineup with strong offense and weak defense may work in Ligue 1, where the overall strength is weak. It may even be better than a normal lineup, but it will be difficult to work in the Champions League.
And doing this also brings another problem, that is, I have bought all the superstars, so you can’t use them, right?
So Messi has to play, Neymar has to play, Mbappe has to play, and Di Maria has to play... The head coach will be greatly restricted in his formation.
The same is true for the current Paris Saint-Germain team. With centers like Ibrahimovic and Cavani, ordinary teams can settle the world with just one, but Paris Saint-Germain can just get two of them at will!
This also allows Pan Yi to guess Blanc's use of troops more easily.
"They were double-killed by us last season, and they will definitely be more cautious this season." Pan Yi continued:
"So I guess that even if Blanc plays at home, he will focus on defense and prepare for our counterattack."
"But their three-midfield configuration is definitely not enough to compete with our 3-5-2 system in the midfield. So I think he may use a four-midfielder and two forward configuration to compete with us."
"Of course, Blanc will not use a traditional 4-4-2, because then there will be only two people in the midfield, which will make it weaker."
"Their four midfielders will not be parallel, and the two wide midfielders will not be too wide, but will be like a trapezoid or diamond, based on the midfielder."
"And for a team like them, once they want to defend and are willing to invest in defense, this will be a big test for us."
With that said, Pan Yi remotely controlled the projector and switched the image to the next ppt, which clearly listed some of Paris Saint-Germain's data.
"This is their data in Ligue 1. They scored 63 goals in 25 games and only conceded 12 goals. It can be said that their performance on both offense and defense is very good."
"But if you look specifically at their goals-conceded data, you can see that defensive headers are the biggest contributor to Paris Saint-Germain's goals conceded."
"And among these missed headers, most were headers from corner kicks and indirect free kicks."
Those present were all experienced professional coaches. Pan Yi didn’t need to say more. They all knew how to take advantage of this.
If Paris Saint-Germain really uses the 4-4-2 tactical strategy of shrinking the defensive midfield, it will indeed be difficult to attack hard, but if there is a good set-piece tactic, they can ignore their tactics and go for it. Break through Paris' defense.
"In addition, this is a technical analysis of Real Madrid's victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage. Let's take a look at it first, and then we will discuss it..."
Everyone hurried over.
In the knockout rounds of the Champions League, especially in the competition between top teams like Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, although there is a gap in strength, it is not as big as imagined. No one can easily crush the other.
Therefore, meticulous preparation before the game and every decision made by the head coach are the key to determining the outcome of the game.
Fortunately, Chelsea has Pan Yi, so this team always has the best pre-match preparations and the most correct tactical strategies...
——
However, sometimes, the outcome of the game depends on another factor: off-field factors.
Three days later, Chelsea arrived in Paris and checked into the hotel.
When most people were fast asleep in Paris at four in the morning, a deafening roar suddenly sounded over the hotel where Chelsea was staying.
In the hotel room, Pan Yi suddenly sat up from the room.
"What happened?"
Pan Yi was still a little dazed, and then he saw bright lights flashing outside the window, and then heard a harsh sound like an alarm.
In addition, there were various chaotic voices and footsteps outside.
Immediately afterwards, someone knocked on his door.
Open the door and find Arteta.
"Someone was setting off fireworks outside, and it seemed like something was lit, so the fire alarm was triggered." Arteta said breathlessly as soon as he rushed in, "Let's get the players to a safe place first."
As soon as he heard that it was a fire alarm, Pan Yi quickly rushed out of the door wearing pajamas. At this time, the corridor outside was already in chaos.
All the Chelsea players were woken up.
"Quick, everyone go to the lobby on the first floor. Remember to count the number of people and don't miss anyone."
With Pan Yi shouting loudly, everyone seemed to have found the backbone and took action.
After all, he is a well-trained professional player and he is very disciplined.
Therefore, even if there was an emergency, he quickly calmed down and quickly went downstairs to the hotel lobby.
At this time, not only them, but all the residents in the entire hotel came down. Some of them didn't even have time to put on their clothes and rushed down wrapped in quilts.
They were unorganized and everything looked messy.
But it’s no wonder they were there. After all, there was a fire alarm. Who wouldn’t panic?
Moreover, it was still early in the morning in the middle of winter, and it was really overwhelming to have such a sudden appearance.
"Boss, everyone is here, everyone is here." Captain Terry came over to report.
Pan Yi nodded and went to the hotel manager to ask about the situation.
It turned out that just half an hour ago, a group of people suddenly came to the door of the hotel and started setting off fireworks without saying a word.
Fireworks are just fine, they make no sound after all.
But after a while, they actually started setting off loud firecrackers!
This woke up many people.
And that wasn't over yet. The fireworks were being set off, and they accidentally lit on a pile of cardboard boxes next to the hotel, and the fire started.
"So, there is actually no problem with the hotel itself?" Pan Yi asked.
"Probably so." The hotel manager replied, then cursed, "I don't know where the drunkard came from, and he went crazy and set off fireworks here..."
Pan Yi frowned, then turned to Arteta and said: "Let the players go back and rest quickly, there is still a game tomorrow."
Arteta said angrily: "How could there be such a coincidence that a group of people suddenly came here to set off fireworks? These people are obviously from Paris Saint-Germain! They just don't want us to recharge our batteries to participate in the game!"
Pan Yi nodded lightly: "I understand. But it's okay now. The impact is not very big. Let them go to bed first."
Arteta nodded and left.
Outside the hotel, reporters with keen sense of smell had already rushed over, and quickly rushed over to Pan Yi who was standing in the hotel lobby.
Pan Yi did not refuse, and talked to the camera while wearing pajamas:
“To be honest, it’s not unusual to have fireworks set off in front of the opponent’s hotel before the game.”
"But did your firecrackers go too loud? They also set the cardboard box next to them on fire."
"Do you have any sense of public morality? My neighbors have to go to work tomorrow!"
"And what I want to say is that Chelsea are not afraid of such extravagant moves."
"The opponent's fans do this because they are afraid of encountering a Chelsea team in perfect condition, so they resort to tricks to prevent Chelsea from competing at their best."
"But it's a pity that even if Chelsea is not 100% in shape, we will definitely win tomorrow's game!"
"Want to play? Just let us have fun with you on the court!"
——
Chelsea's harassment in the hotel and Pan Yi's declaration of war on Paris Saint-Germain were circulated on the Internet early in the morning.
Some people think that Paris Saint-Germain fans have done this kind of thing not once or twice. For example, during the national derby between them and Marseille, the two sides would go back and forth and often engage in this kind of behavior.
Some people think that this may have nothing to do with Paris Saint-Germain. It was just an accident. Who made Chelsea unlucky?
The two sides held different opinions online and were very quarrelsome.
Of course, most people still support Chelsea, because Paris Saint-Germain's reputation is really not that good now. Both their senior management and fans feel like they are being yelled at and beaten by everyone.
However, for Pan Yi, the commotion in the early morning still affected the team's pre-match preparations.
After all, even if they are only disturbed for an hour or two, the players may not be able to fall asleep right away if they return home in a state of shock. Even if they do fall asleep, the quality of their sleep is average.
After all, players are just like ordinary people. Once they don't sleep well at night, they will be lack of energy the whole next day.
Therefore, Pan Yi and the coaching staff had to temporarily adjust the team's game day plans and arrangements, especially increasing the players' rest time.
As a result, there will be less time to go to the Parc des Princes to adapt to the venue and train.
But there is no way, there has to be a trade-off.
Chelsea fans are also beginning to worry about the current situation of their team.
After all, in professional football, the outcome of a game is often determined by every detail before the game.
The coach's tactical game, the collection of various data, pre-match training, the status of the players, including the support of the fans...etc., etc., any problem in any link may affect the game.
Now that Chelsea players have not received a good rest and have changed their normal training plan, whether the players can still perform at their best during the game may become a problem.
When the time came in the evening and fans had already begun to enter the Parc des Princes, Chelsea fans even put up slogans in the away team stands to despise the behavior of Paris Saint-Germain fans:
"Set off fireworks in front of other people's hotels will not win the Champions League!"
