There could be a new role emerging for Paris Saint-Germain’s star attacker and current Ligue 1 ‘Top Scoreur‘, who after shifting temporarily to the central forward position against Newcastle, started at No.9 during Les Parisiens’ 10-man win against Le Havre.
This time last year, France had beaten Poland convincingly 3-1 in the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup. It was a blistering partnership between Kylian Mbappé and Olivier Giroud that gave rise to the term #pivotgang on the international stage. The term was coined by Mbappé in a controversial instagram post following a 0-0 draw against Will Still’s Reims earlier in October 2022 – and was symbolic of the Frenchman’s frustration playing wide in the MNM structure under Christophe Galtier. Now, under Luis Enrique, a new tactical evolution has French football’s pundits debating Mbappé’s positioning, this time as an out-and-out central striker.
“We no longer have the idea of Pivot Gang” – RMC Sport’s Jérôme Rothen on Mbappé’s positioning
What are the merits of shifting Kylian Mbappé to play as a striker?
The Bondy native and former AS Monaco youth product has already played as a number 9 as recently as last season under Christophe Galtier. But sandwiched between Lionel Messi and Neymar, the Frenchman saw very little of the ball from his star-laden partners. Against Le Havre, Mbappé moved centrally after Gianluigi Donnarumma was sent off, remaining there despite being outnumbered. It was similar against Newcastle in the Champions League, with PSG’s attack switching to this configuration and seeing a marked improvement in the Frenchman’s performance.
In theory, it ensures more freedom of movement for the France captain who is also able to take advantage of Ousmane Dembélé’s driving runs down the left side. It also means he is closer to the box, which is shown statistically by his touches inside the area. He had higher amount of touches in the box (7) against Le Havre than against Monaco (5). According to L’Équipe, four of PSG’s sixteen touches in the box against Newcastle came during the 20 minutes following Mbappé’s switch to a centre-forward.
“In my opinion, Mbappé is so strong that he needs to be positioned as close to the penalty area as possible,” explains RMC Sport pundit Jérôme Rothen. “We no longer have the idea of a ‘pivot gang, for the simple reason that Luis Enrique doesn’t like long, direct play, so Kylian will never have the role of pivot.”
A temporary fix or long-term solution for PSG’s attack?
Amazon Prime Video Sport pundit Benoît Cheyrou isn’t convinced by Enrique’s latest tactical tweak. “From PSG’s victory at Le Havre, I’ll remember the defensive display more than Kylian Mbappé’s central positioning,” said Cheyrou following coverage of the match at Stade Océane, adding “I have even more serious doubts as to whether this is a sustainable option when I look at Luis Enrique’s squad [with Randal Kolo Muani & Gonçalo Ramos on the bench], so I don’t think it’s a long term plan to play Mbappé at number 9.“
This comes to the crux of the question of the costs of playing Mbappé centrally. Firstly, it creates a hole on the left flank which would likely be filled by Bradley Barcola – on his weaker side. It also poses the problem of leaving €170m-worth of summer spending on the bench in the form of Gonçalo Ramos and Randal Kolo Muani, and not an entirely natural move for Enrique to make.
“Luis Enrique loves to use strikers out wide to stretch opposition defences, with what looks like a 3-3-4 formation. Ultimately, I think he’d be more tempted to play with a second striker like he did with Lee Kang-in at Reims,” finishes the Prime Video pundit.
More will be revealed as PSG face Nantes at the Parc des Princes on Saturday evening. Will Enrique stick with his latest tactical switch-up, or will the Spaniard revert to playing his top scorer on his habitual left side?
GFFN | George Boxall
