Quote from: ShowOff on Today at 06:14:26 PM

Quote from: Fiatless on Today at 04:15:01 PM

Quote from: knowngunman on Today at 12:54:06 PM

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This is just the first game and they got the three points which is more important. Some key players were introduced later in the game. Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Nuno Mendes did not start the match. The French Champions struggled to get a goal and were lucky to get it through a deflected shot.

I don't see any competitor against PSG. I thought Olympique de Marseille will give the current champions a strong opposition, but the loss against ten-man Stade Rennais F.C is making me to have a rethink.

In my opinion, if Luis Enrique had not experimented with his main squad, they could have won the match easily. I think Luis Enrique was quite brave to start his first match of the season by leaving Hakimi, Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Doue, and Nuno Mendes on the bench. Nantes couldn't put up any meaningful resistance, the disparity in squad depth made the difference in performance between the two teams even more apparent. Statistically, PSG appeared dominant throughout the match, and a 1-0 win was enough to secure all three points.

Luis Enrique knew that the Nantes wouldn't be problematic to them that is why he kept some of their big players in the bench and they still played awesomely even though they could only score one goal. Seems Luis Enrique is trying to employ new tactics of keeping the main players in the bench then when the game becomes tough he sends them to heat it up and achieve the desired results. With this strategy their key players won't risk injuries and it's also a way to learn how to explore the team without the main players.

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On the other hand, it was very surprising to see Marseille suffer a shock defeat to Rennes. The match, which seemed destined for a draw, instead turned into a defeat in the final minutes of the match. Rennes was very lucky to secure the full points, despite playing for almost 60 minutes with only 10 players. Overall, with the current performance shown by Marseille, I don't think they are strong enough to challenge PSG dominance.

I was literally surprised at Marseille losing to Rennes because this was a match that Marseille had the advantage of winning because Rennes got an early red card in the first half but yet still won Marseille in the die minutes of the game. Last season, Marseille was the runners up but if they could start the season with a lose i wonder if they can even end in the second position as they did last season. I hope PSG gets a strong rival this season because it will be so bad to get the title on a platter of gold as they did last season so Marseille should better wake up.