PSG face an unusual problem: they are not scoring enough goals in Ligue 1

“It’s both beautiful and frustrating,” says Luis Enrique. The Paris Saint-Germain manager has a complicated relationship with how his team’s league matches play out. When PSG are involved, one team attacks and the other defends. “I like attacking a low block,” he insists. “It is the phase of play that I am most familiar with. I am very respectful of how other teams play. It is a different kind of football from ours, it’s atypical, but I understand and accept it.”

Accepting low blocks isn’t really a choice for PSG; it is simply their reality, a result of the talent imbalance created by financial imbalance. Their talent usually tells and the low-block is unlocked with varying degrees of difficulty. But it has been tougher this season.

PSG have averaged 72.5% possession in Ligue 1 so far this season. Against Nice on Saturday, they had 76.5% of the ball and made 760 passes, compared to just 182 for Nice. By half-time, Vitinha had 90 touches of the ball – just six fewer than the entire Nice team – but PSG struggled to make their domination tell. When the whistle blew for the internal, Nice defender Juma Bah, whose header was cleared off the line by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, had come closest to scoring.

And this game isn’t an outlier. PSG had drawn three of their previous four Ligue 1 games. They had 71% possession against Strasbourg, but were reliant on a last-minute Senny Mayulu equaliser to salvage a point. And, despite having 77% possession against Lorient in midweek, they only scored once and were ultimately held to a draw. Nearly a third of the way into the season, PSG are only the fifth top scorers in Ligue 1 – behind Marseille, Lille, Monaco and Strasbourg.

It is a result of the special treatment that PSG garner, but also reflects a genuine problem. Their forwards are not scoring. Ousmane Dembélé’s 29 goals last season helped PSG win Ligue 1 and the Champions League; Bradley Barcola scored 14 times in the league; Désiré Doué hit 16 in all competitions; and Kvaratskhelia scored eight after his January move.

Dembélé won the Ballon d’Or and, while it is contestable that the France international is indeed the best player in the world, it is difficult to argue that he was not the best player of the 2024-25 campaign. He has just five goals in 12 games this season. He suffered a hamstring injury while on international duty in September, which gave rise to a blame game between PSG and the France team that has seen the relationship between the two institutions deteriorate. Dembélé missed around six weeks of action as a result, but he still doesn’t look right. After the win over Nice, he was seen clutching his hamstring. “It hurts so much,” he told teammate Achraf Hakimi.

Luis Enrique says Dembélé will be fit to face Bayern Munich this week in the Champions League but, while he gets back up to speed, other players have to step up. It won’t be Doué. The former Rennes forward was also injured in September. He was just getting back to his best when he was struck down with another thigh injury, which is expected to rule him out until January. Kvaratskhelia is a massive asset to his team but he often saves his best performances for the big occasions in the Champions League; he is yet to score in Ligue 1 this season. Barcola, PSG’s top scorer in all competitions this season, has just one goal in his last eight games and is in a fallow period. Something of a purple-patch forward, the goals will undoubtedly return, but he can’t be expected to be the goalscorer in this expensively assembled PSG attack.

Gonçalo Ramos scored the winner against Nice but will he keep his place in the team? Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

That was the job handed to Gonçalo Ramos when he joined in 2023. The Portugal striker reached the milestone of 100 games for PSG against Nice, but he has come off the bench in more than half of those appearances. Having scored 18 of his 38 goals after coming on as a substitute, he has very much assumed the role of the “finisher”, partially due to his ineffectiveness when picked, but mostly due to his manager’s reluctance to start with a conventional No 9. “Why do I score so many goals off the bench? Well, simply because I come off the bench more than I start,” joked Ramos after the match.

With the goals drying up across the frontline, Ramos’ last-gasp winner has given his manager food for thought. The centre-forward missed three chances before taking his fourth and deciding the game, but the fact that PSG’s best chances fell to him is telling. He’s an instinctive poacher and that is what PSG were buying when they invested €65m. “He is a very important player for us because he is always ready for every match, whether he starts or not,” said Luis Enrique. “Five minutes of Gonçalo on the pitch are quality minutes.” It may be time for the super-sub to play a starring role.

Talking points

Paul Pogba looked on from the stands as Monaco succumbed to their first defeat of the Sébastien Pocognoli era. The 32-year-old was expected to make his long-awaited return against Paris FC before an ankle sprain on Thursday put paid to those plans. And so he watched on as Moses Simon scored the only goal in a deserved win for the visitors. Monaco were lacking inspiration – “lacking fire and lacking responsibility,” said Pocognoli. Beyond the collective shortcomings, there are individual performances that are cause for concern, notably that of Mika Biereth, hooked at the break. After scoring 13 goals in 16 Ligue 1 games last season, he has started this campaign with just one in 13 appearances. Ansu Fati, who had little impact off the bench, has to show his revival earlier this season was not ephemeral. Pocognoli says that he is “learning a lot about the group”. Not all of it is positive.

It has been a rollercoaster week at Rennes. Habib Beye was almost sacked after a 2-1 defeat to Nice last Sunday. The manager was given a stay of execution, but needed a result against Toulouse in midweek. That game ended 2-2, as Rennes once again let a two-goal lead slip. But Beye was retained and saw his team win on Sunday – their first victory since 14 September. It was emphatic, too. Esteban Lepaul was the hero, scoring a hat-trick in the 4-1 win against European challengers Strasbourg. Rather than taking their foot off the gas when leading, as they have done to their own detriment so many times recently, Rennes continued to push and finally got their reward. Beye is back from the brink, but this must be a turning point if he is to remain in the post long-term.

This is an article by Get French Football News