Paris Saint-Germain 2020/21 Season Preview: Strengths, Weaknesses, Key Man & Prediction

With the assembled armchair pundits (and real pundits) of the world ready to label PSG 'overpaid bottlejobs' after what seemed like a near-inevitable Champions League quarter-final exit, they made us all look a bit silly and nearly went and won the whole thing.

There was no shame in what ended up being a painfully close loss against an imposing Bayern Munich side that they more than matched on the pitch, but Les Parisiens will be left wondering what might have been going into another season without Europe's biggest prize in their trophy cabinet.

Luckily, when it comes to the league campaign, they've been shown a bit of sympathy. As a result of their participation in the final of the Champions League 'mini-tournament' in Lisbon, they start a whole 19 days later than the rest of their peers in Ligue Un, kicking off their title defence on 10 September. However, they do have an outbreak of coronavirus within the squad to contend with.

While it would be easy to assume that Thomas Tuchel's third successive league title is basically a certainty, not many at PSG will forget the club's stumbling to a second place finish as Monaco took the title in 2017, and in a league where the seventh-placed club can topple Manchester City, they will need to be on their guard against complacency.

Strengths

Explosiveness

Kingsley Coman, Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry, Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, the 'BBC' of Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo and the unstoppable trio of Neymar, Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi - see any similarities between the European champions of the past three years?

Quite simply, in a footballing era which is more terrifyingly quick than ever, any great team needs to build from the front, with a dynamic, explosive and, most importantly, balanaced front three that doesn't allow an opponent a moment's peace.

With Neymar on the left, Kylian Mbappé playing through the middle and the hilariously left-footed Ángel Di María on the right, PSG have managed exactly that this season. Where the supposed petulance of Neymar and Di María's lack of grit have been mocked in the past, no one was laughing against Leipzig, where, though only the Argentinian scored out of the front three, the relentless threat of their smart running and electric dribbling forced one of Germany's most attacking sides to withdraw into their shell.

Thomas Tuchel

Ok, let's get this out of the way - he did put on Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to settle a Champions League final when Mauro Icardi was just sitting there.

But in an institution which seems to constantly be besieged by transfer sagas, disgruntled divas and weighty expectations, former Borussia Dortmund boss Tuchel has bought with him the one thing PSG were badly lacking - calm.

Tuchel has made the act of fitting various mercurial attacking talents into a 4-3-3 while retaining some semblance of a defensive shape - one of the hardest jobs in football - look relatively easy, all while pacifying the aforementioned divas in a way that his predecessor Unai Emery found beyond his capabilities.

Weaknesses

Full Backs

Much has been made of PSG's midfield and a lack of cover in general, but over the course of the Lisbon mini-tournament unfancied players like Choupo-Moting, Leandro Paredes and even former Fulham stopper Sergio Rico made important contributions. Besides, it's not exactly simple to find cover for a player like Marco Verratti.

The most urgent area for PSG to address is one of the most important in the modern game, and concerns their first team much more than it does their bench - they absolutely need to make sure their fullbacks are up to scratch.

PSG's starting left-back Juan Bernat has been perfectly fine but he isn't getting any younger, while Thilo Kehrer on the right is a serious concern after the young German was exposed in the Champions League final. With right-back Thomas Meunier departing to Dortmund and backup left-back Layvin Kurzawa unimpressive over the last few seasons, PSG are dangerously understaffed in a crucial part of the pitch, and risk leaving enormous gaps in their swashbuckling 4-3-3.

Lack of Thiago Silva

It's generally considered pretty difficult to move on from a good centre-back, especially when the centre-back in question happens to have been the greatest in your club's entire history.

Yet this is exactly the dilemma that PSG will be faced with this summer, with Thiago Silva, despite some rather hasty last-minute negotiating from Les Parisiens, now a Chelsea player. Which super-athletic, world-class reader of the game has been bought in to replace Silva? Well... no-one so far.

Even at the grand old age of 35, the Brazilian was one of the most important factors in PSG's run to the Champions League final, with his composure and tactical awareness markedly important against inexperienced Atalanta and Leipzig sides. With Kalidou Koulibaly appearing to be on the verge of a move to Manchester City, Presnel Kimpembe and Marquinhos will be under more scrutiny than ever next season, and will be tasked with filling the enormous void in leadership which PSG are now left with.

Key Man

Last season was definitely the season that PSG got rid of their Neymar baggage. Unsurprisingly, when he was injury-free, he was actually pretty good, and dominated some of Europe's best sides much in the same way that you'd expect from the most expensive player in the history of football. Simple.

But were some question marks starting to appear over the form of another of PSG's attacking triumvirate? Well, probably not, but Kylian Mbappé definitely has unfinished business after an injury-interrupted campaign.

Whisper it but it could well be the Frenchman's last season at the Parc des Princes before a long-anticipated move to Real Madrid, and he'll feel as if he hasn't shown the Champions League everything that he can do just yet after a spectacular league season. Bayern Munich, you might just have started a serious storm.

Prediction

There can be little doubt about it, PSG will, in all likelihood, win the league this season. The gap between them and the other teams in Ligue Un simply remains too big, and they won't be too worried about the likes of Marseille or Rennes unless either go on an unprecedented spending spree.

As always, the big question remains whether this level of competition (or lack thereof) is particularly healthy for them, especially given their form seems to dive off a cliff as soon as the title has been won. What will worry PSG fans more is the lack of investment in their squad this summer, and whether the extraordinary scenes of last season will be repeated is another question entirely.

Prediction: Champions