Manchester City 2-4 PSG: 3 lessons both managers can takeaway
Man City had won every game up until they faced the UEFA Champions League winners. The result looked a lot worse than it was. In fact, at half time, Man City looked out for the count, but after the final whistle, it was clear that PSG didn’t have as much control as it seemed.
PSG slammed three goals past a blushing Gianluigi Donnarumma in the first half, leaving the hosts with a mountain to climb. Man City started climbing, but missed chances saw Enzo Maresca’s men keep stumbling. At the end, PSG flew back to Paris with a 4-2 win that should have been 5-2, if not for a missed penalty.
The issue? To use football twitter (FT) language, Luis Enrique certainly did NOT coach a 5-2 win.
It’s easy for both sets of fans to overreact to this result. However, the numbers don’t lie, and this game revealed many things we’ve always known, but here are three important lessons either manager can learn from this game.
1. Initial setups matter. Greatly.
Remember the 2025 Club World Cup (CWC) final? Yeah, Enzo Maresca was heralded as a tactical genius in the hours after the game ended. Why? Because he won 3-0. However, the issue with not knowing why you won, is that you make mistakes you don’t even realize are mistakes. Every manager is expected to be able to respond to game-state, but sometimes, you need to get it right from the start. This is especially important when you’re up against PSG’s quality.
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Maresca used a 4-2-3-1 setup, the same one he used when he played PSG in the CWC final. It worked then, but it was his downfall this time around. Why? With Chelsea in July 2025, he had Moises Caicedo and Reece James in the pivot: two players that are comfortable sitting deep. He then had Enzo Fernandez in the No. 10 role. This time, he had two players not comfortable sitting deep in the pivot.
With Man City, he had Elliot Anderson and Fernandez. Yes, the same one. None of these players are defensive midfielders. What’s more? He used the same formation to achieve different purposes. You need sitters who can pass when you plan to sit deep and counter. This time, Maresca did not plan to sit deep, but somehow, he expected this to work. By the time the former Chelsea manager realized his mistake, he was already 3-0 down. Ayoub Bouaddi was a great addition to the game, but the home side was unable to rescue their dignity.
2. In big games, moments rule
Has your favourite team ever lost after playing well, creating great chances, controlling the important parts, and then you go away feeling deserving of a win? Yeah…no. The teams that deserve to win are the ones that take their chances. The ones that dominate the moments.
Gian Piero Gasperini said after the Real Madrid game that “Roma was the better team”. He vehemently responded to Jose Mourinho’s comments that by the end of the game the Serie A club’s played were “DEAD”. His side had taken the lead, stretching a 1-0 lead to 3-1 by the 80th minute. This made him believe his team deserved the win.
READ ALSO: Roma 3-4 Real Madrid: How Arda Guler stole the show from the bench
Against PSG, Man City created more shots, had more possession, and created more big chances. However, PSG scored twice the goals. This is because PSG took their moments, especially in the first half. Man City got – and squandered – several clear cut chances, Erling Haaland alone missed three of them, though he scored a brace to give his teammates hope.
3. Every game is redeemable, even a 3-0 deficit
Man City did not cover the goal deficit against PSG, but they could have. In the second half, Man City brought on Ayoub Bouaddi and the midfield started doing what it was designed for: controlling the game. Maresca’s men controlled the game so well, that they created four times the big chances PSG did in the last 45 minutes.
The issue, is that Man City converted…none of it. In fact, the Premier League side missed all six big chances they created throughout the game. PSG didn’t need the volume of big chances their opponents got to score as many as they did.
The scoreline ended up looking as though Man City was thoroughly outplayed. Yes, they stared slowly, and were outplayed, but the FA Cup winners recovered from that. If Haaland had scored two of the three clear cut chances he missed, the story would have been different.
These points just show that things aren’t always what they seem. Of course, Enzo Maresca and the entire Man City community will lick their wounds, but this is what you expect at this level. Unlike the CWC final, the City manager should know why he lost. If he misdiagnoses the problems in this game, he’s bound to make another mistake when faced with this kind of challenge.