PSG look to bounce back against Rennes after troubling weekend

PSG fans will not be used to looking at the Ligue 1 table in December and seeing their side languishing in second place, a point behind a RC Lens side that have been spearheaded by veteran attacker Florian Thauvin. The perhaps strangest part of the situation is that PSG haven’t even been particularly bad: they have displayed fantastic football at times, particularly in Europe, and much of their poor form has been the result, one feels, of being ravaged by injuries that have at times decimated the squad.

PSG eye Rennes clash to bounce back

However, there will be some frustration from the PSG fans, specifically perhaps about manager Luis Enrique’s attacking choices. It feels as though the Catalan coach has discarded attackers such as Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos, both of whom have received increasingly limited minutes as the season has gone on, in favour of academy starlets like Senny Mayulu, Ibrahim Mbaye, and now also Quentin Ndjantou. It is fantastic that PSG finally have a coach who is ready and willing to turn to his academy in times of need, but it just feels as though these three players are perhaps a little undercooked – particularly in Ligue Un games, which are notoriously physical.

Mayulu has shone the most of the three, and has scored vital goals at different points this season, but even he has struggled in the last few weeks, and was fairly indifferent again in Saturday’s reverse in Monaco. Playing as a striker is perhaps not his most natural position, and an experienced striker on the bench like Ramos (who has at times scored important goals both this season and in his PSG career as a whole) will feel as if he has become surplus to requirements if a youngster can consistently play ahead of him.

Barcola, too, will perhaps feel as though he has been cast aside: at times, even when he has been the only fit senior attacker, he has struggled to secure a consistent starting berth in the team, with his inconsistent early season performances perhaps the reason why his manager seems to have lost a little faith in him. The imminent returns of Ousmane Dembélé and Desiré Doué to full fitness do not bode particularly well for the fortunes of Barcola or Ramos either, as they will only represent even more competition for the attacking spots that are available.

This Saturday’s game at home to Rennes represents a difficult test for the Parisians, as they will play arguably the most in-form team in all of France, a Rennes side that have won their last four league games on the bounce, including emphatic wins over high flying sides such as Strasbourg and Monaco (neither of whom, tellingly, PSG managed to beat this season). Fans of the club from the capital will hope that a rare midweek off will give the Parisians the chance to recuperate before the big night at the Parc des Princes – which will be rapidly succeeded by a trip to Bilbao in Europe, where they will face Athletic Club. PSG’s current challengers, Lens, have a trip to Nantes (on paper an easier game) to contend with this weekend.