Paris former player Cisse: Arsenal is the better team, Enrique gave up Dembele and tied himself up in knots

Edouard Cisse, a former Paris player who played nearly 200 games for the team, expressed his dissatisfaction with Paris coach Luis Enrique. He said that the way Paris lost to Arsenal made him particularly disappointed.

This article is a summary of Cisse's remarks, the source of the news is social media/Le Parisien.

https://www.leparisien.fr/sports/football/ligue-des-champions/on-en-est-ou-dans-le-projet-apres-la-defaite-a-arsenal-edouard-cisse-sinquiete-pour-le-psg-02-10-2024-4IXIEC6YLBBSNIC44SD7UCB45U.php

Talking about the game

The better team - Arsenal won the game, nothing to say.

I don't think PSG can compete with Arsenal. Paris is behind in all aspects, details, set pieces - especially we have repeatedly emphasized that set pieces are Arsenal's strongest point.

In the second half, I found that Paris' situation was a little better, but this was mainly because the Gunners were in a self-management state (protecting physical energy). For me, I never felt that Paris was able to overturn anything in this game.

On Dembele's absence

We can evaluate him as we like, he is sometimes clumsy, but he is a player who can cause chaos in the opponent's defense. Paris wanted to play a winger tactic, but it bound itself and excluded Dembele from the lineup.

Barcola is capable, but unstable, and only 22 years old. Calafiori and Timber took turns to "put him in the bag" in this game. If Dembele was there, the situation would be different. Dembele can also consume Martinelli's energy.

Enrique needs to solve the problem internally instead of depriving Dembele of the right to play.

If I were a coach, I wouldn't say to myself, ah! I'm going to London, but I don't want to take Ousmane Dembele with me.

I understand Luis Enrique's sense of authority, he wants to prove that he is the boss and wants everyone's respect, but you have to put your ego aside, he is one of your best players, you can have a better way to resolve disputes within the team.

Talking about the gap between Paris and Arsenal

Arsenal's defenders are all 190cm tall, and the midfielders are very good at confrontation, but the average height of Paris' midfielders is 1.74m.

I'm not saying to be a bodybuilder, a body of muscles without skills is meaningless, but body shape is important in the highest level of competition, especially when there is no obvious gap in technology between you and Arsenal. This is a problem of team building ideas.

Yesterday's Arsenal didn't have Odegaard, their bench wasn't full, and they weren't even the strongest Arsenal. They were in the quarterfinals of the Champions League last year, and they could easily beat Paris - I'm skeptical whether Enrique's team can achieve good results in the new Champions League season.

In addition, not only with Arsenal, but also with the gap between Paris and the best giants in Europe - they lack scorers. Whether people like Mbappe or not, he can score 40 goals every season.

Barcola is a blaster, but can he score 20 goals every season? I doubt it. Real Madrid is needless to say, Manchester City has Haaland, Barcelona has Lewandowski, and Yamal.