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If there's one club which sums up the free spending football ecosystem of the 2010s, it's paris saint-germain. With just two titles in their then 40-year history, the french team turned themselves into the biggest side in the country with the simple application of millions of euros. But despite the open checkbook, PSG never converted their domestic power into international success and as the squad has improved into one good enough to compete on all fronts, the focus has shifted from ramming the clubhouse full of stars to finding a coach able to marshal them into a coherent hole.
Of course it helps when you can sign Leo Messi and Sergio Ramos on free transfers. But having spent an average of 118 million pounds per summer in the first three years after their qatari takeove, PSG have averaged 72 million over the last three but they've made huge strides in the dugout. After carlo ancelotti left the part de prance in 2013 it would take until 2018 for another top tactician to join the side in the form of Thomas Tuchel but he was followed by Mauricio Pochettino, a former psg captain who had turned Tottenham into an attractive and dangerous team. Carrying them to a champions league final and second place in the premier league at their peak.
But Poche's return to the french capital has not been the perfect union we might have expected in his first half season he was beaten to the title by Lille and while that could be blamed on a discordant dressing room, he has yet to turn PSG'S troop of superstars into a distinctive or particularly fun side. While the addition of Messi seems to have made the attack more disjointed not less, sparking rumors both in the summer and after the sacking of nuno espirito santo that the coach would have considered a Spurs return.
So what if anything is going wrong have psg made a mistake with pochettino and what can we expect from them over the rest of the season?
Clearly losing out on a title last season was not all Pochettino's fault but he doesn't escape blame entirely. The Argentinian took over in january with psg one point off the top after four losses in 17 and poch lost another four games over the course of the 21 he managed during the run-in. Meaning PSG ended the campaign in exactly the same position one point of champions league.
Not only did he fail to overcome such a tiny gap but on Pochettino's watch the team's stats actually got worse with goals scored sinking very slightly from 2.3 a game to 2.2 but the defense significantly dropping off from an insane 0.6 goals allowed each match to 0.9. So, does that mean the concern is warranted? Well yes and no. It's important to recognize that for all the hand-wringing about their form and style, PSG are virtual locks for the title.
This season they've lost one and drawn one of their 12 games so far to sit on 31 points after 12 match weeks while in europe they made a huge statement with a two-nil victory over pep's man city in the champions league. Meaning that now only Klopp and Mourinho have beaten Guardiola more often than potch but when success is expected even victories can come accompanied by red flags.
There are some flying at the party prance. Right now in league play the team is averaging roughly 1.8 xg per game and 0.9 xg against which is unsurprisingly excellent and more than worthy of a title winner. But that means that their xg difference per game. How much they outplay opponents by on average is just under 0.9. Clearly that's far from bad but it only ranks sixth in europe and more worryingly second in france to a nice side managed by christoph galtier who coached leo to triumph in may.
When you take a longer term view, it's even more troubling. Representing the first time since xg data began in 2014 that the club has sunk beneath plus one xg per 90. Given the incredible talent hoovering up wages that's a little disappointing but while you may think you know what's going on, you might be wrong. Commentary on poche's time in paris has understandably suggested that the front three of Mbappe, Neymar and Messi lacks the work rate to play potchball. But there's little evidence to suggest that's actually true.