Walid Acherchour warns of a gap between PSG’s starters and substitutes

“We are entitled to have expectations,” says Walid Acherchour, voicing concern about the level of PSG’s bench. The After Foot pundit sees a gap between the starters and substitutes, illustrated, in his view, by Saturday’s 3-1 win over Le Mans.

The commentator acknowledges that Le Mans played well and that Paris were unsettled, but notes that the team still secured a convincing victory, with more than 4 xG. Even so, he argues that the result does not erase his concerns about the Paris line-up. “If you only had that set-up, nobody would bet on them,” he says, referring to the starting eleven against Le Mans.

Acherchour also draws a distinction between performances in different competitions. “You have to separate what happens in the league from what might happen in the Champions League on several levels,” he says, pointing both to the teams selected and the club’s motivation. PSG, the double defending champions, had won 6-1 against Bratislava in their opening match, but did not look particularly dominant against Le Mans in Ligue 1.

His criticism is not limited to results. He takes issue with what he sees as Luis Enrique’s excessive rotation, saying that appearances by the strongest team have often disappointed since the start of the season. By contrast, he praises the consistency of the playing principles. Even with “Beraldo and Dro...” in the midfield and attack he refers to, the team won with statistics he associates with “the big PSG”. “You lack technique, but the playing principles are always the same. That is very positive,” he adds.

Acherchour also points to individual struggles. He says Mika Godts failed to complete a successful one-on-one and believes Zabarnyi struggled against Louis Mafouta, whom he describes as a good Ligue 2 player. He notes that Zabarnyi, bought for 60 million euros, was expected to challenge Marquinhos more closely, while Mika Godts was supposed to push Kvaratskhelia. “He isn’t doing that at the moment,” he says. “It’s 1-1 before the substitutes come on.”

The pundit does not predict what this gap will mean for PSG. “We don’t know” what the negative consequences will be, he says, but believes the performances should already be assessed.