‘They’re gonna be the team to beat once again’ - Craig Burley after PSG's win vs. Man City | ESPN FC

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ESPN FC panel says PSG are still the team to beat in the Champions League after beating Man City

This video discusses what PSG's win over Manchester City means for the Champions League. The panel largely agrees PSG showed they are the benchmark again, while City's second-half comeback is seen as a morale boost at best; Pep Guardiola's presence in the stands also draws criticism.

Stewart Robson, Jurgen Klinsmann, Ale Moreno and Craig Burley join Kay Murray to react to PSG’s 4-2 win over Manchester City in the Champions League. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC

Transcript

it would finish in favor of PSG despite a much better second half from Manchester City. But let's welcome in some of our cast of characters to talk more about what we saw in this game. Stuart Robson is with us. So too is Jurgen Klinsman. Jurgen, how did PSG get their way with [snorts] City in the first half like this? >> Well, they utilized all their chances. They were ruthless. They were uh focused. I mean the combination play that they I mean you look at the first goal it was just fantastic to watch. You can see that their automatism they have they are there you know they train that uh throughout the week and uh yeah they looked like being on the road and then second half looked totally different. Second half Man City came back and I think Ellen Holland he could have equalized it himself. You know he could have scored four or five. he had hit the post then with a header and or the the crossbar and uh had other opportunities and and they kept the game at least open um even if it now looks like a clear result. Um, I mean this is this is Champions League and this is so fascinating to to watch that small little tiny episode kind of uh uh make a huge huge difference at the end of the day like Donaruma's mistake you know not punching the ball over the crossbar um and uh highly entertaining uh obviously for for Man City it's a it's a a bummer to give that game away but you got to give Parisa Jim a huge compliment especially first half how they played how they dictated the game and uh still Man City could have come What did you take from it, Craig? >> Well, you said to your you said, "How how did PSG get their way with this Man City side?" The answer is relatively simplistic. They're a much better team and that showed in the first 45 minutes. Now, depends what camp you sit in. If you're sitting in the City camp, you might say, "Well, I'm a bit boyed by that second half, bit boyed by the comeback, by the stats, by the chances that we created and all that sort of stuff." And I get that the changes did help them, but I'm slightly in the camp of when you're 3-0 up and it should have been more and the game's pretty easy and Halime comes. Sometimes it's difficult to go out there and replicate that knowing pretty much that the game's over. And I think there was a little bit about that about PSG got a little bit sloppy, dropped the tempo a little bit. And Man City in the other hand, they've got everything to play for. They don't want an embarrassment. They want to try and get back in the game, make it a little closer. And that to me narrowed the gap a little bit. I think looking at the first 45 minutes is a better barometer of where these two teams are, which is PSG super slick in midfield and up front. And Hakeime in particular was everywhere, particularly in the first 45 minutes. And City just couldn't deal with that. So yeah, it wasn't embarrassing in the end, although it was a defeat, but I think that was because City had something to grasp onto in the second half and PSG's all all their hard graph was done in that first 45. >> It's it's hard to imagine or picture a better performance from a team in a game of this magnitude than what we saw from PSG in the first half. Dominant backside whooping of Manchester City. And by design and and this is when coaching makes a difference and individual responsibility from players also makes a difference. By design PSG already has a 3v2 in the midfield with sire Emory, Fabian Reese and Britina against Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez. So you're going to need help from other players in Manchester City to come and support that midfield. It really then falls on the shoulders of players like say for example Ryan Cherokee to hey listen you got to help us with the numbers in the midfield. You got to give us some sacrifice defensively because if you don't do that then PSG catches you in transition and now PSG once they get running you got weapons everywhere deservas on the bench also as a weapon. And you think about Hakeime and that you just highlighted there, Craig. Sometimes he was playing as a center forward for PSG today and all it all happened in in moments of transition in which Manchester City simply could not keep up. But again, even before the game started, there was a mismatch in the midfield and then Manchester City never addressed it. Certainly in the first half, they never figure it out. They never got the help that they needed from trailing players like Jeremy Doku or Ryan Cherokee. They never had the intensity nor the energy to get close to PSG in the first half and that's why it looked like PSG is at one level and Manchester City nowhere near that. It was indeed a backside whooping in the in the sec in the first 45 minutes. Second 45 minutes you kind of go yeah moral victories for for Manchester City but I think they want more than a moral victory when you're playing at home. They salvaged something something of a feeling from the game. But that first half is something that gave us a very clear statement as to where PSG are and Manchester City as it pertains to this competition. >> Big difference between the two for you Stewie. >> There was particularly the start of the game and and Man City played into PSG's hands because PSG decided right from the start of the game we're going to try and win the ball back as high up the field as possible. You try and play out from the back and Man City did try and play out from the back and they didn't do it particularly well. They were always rushed on the ball. So they gave it away in bad areas or they weren't set for when they did give the ball away. And PSG made good decisions. They played around pressure brilliantly. They went from back to front at the right times. They got runners beyond the ball. And Man City didn't do that. It was crying out at the start of the game when they were pressing the ball for Donnaruma to go into Harland and say, "Go on, we'll start from there. We've got Churkey supporting. We've got the two wide players now. We're going to turn PSG round." They didn't do that. They played into PSG's hands and PSG played it brilliantly. They they thought they could play a similar midfield shape or a similar shape to Liverpool at the weekend and they quickly found out that PSG are not Liverpool because Liverpool have struggled in midfield and PSG don't. That's why he made those changes that Alli was talking about at Halime. Churkey when you have a lot of possession is a very good player, a very good player. Uh he's not the best of all that French lot by the way cuz he wasn't in the French team but he's still a brilliant footballer. But when he's got when you got possession, that's great. But when you don't have possession, then you're outnumbered in midfield. And he's he's kind of a liability, isn't he? And Moresca found that out the hard way. I should know the answer to this. Maybe somebody knows the answer to it. Somebody probably does know the answer to this. You don't even know what I'm going to say. Has anybody won the Champions League three years in a row? Somebody must have. >> Real Madrid. >> Did Real Madrid do >> 2016? >> Because I know football's early. Actually, I'm not I'm not really a historian. I don't remember. I can't remember last week. Uh the reason I say that is football's a funny game and any result can happen at any point. You pick up injuries, you lose form, somebody has a great night, you have a bad night, but that's just another marker to say you're probably going to have to beat them in the semi-finals of the final PSG to win this competition. In fact, I go as far as to say at the this moment in time, even Barcelona in their current pomp, I don't think are as good as as PSG because I think PSG defensively have a better organization and have arguably as much talent going forward. So, they are raising their head again and this is Lewis Enrique. You have got to tip your cap here. This is Lewis Enrique who went in there and said, I don't want this, I don't want that, and I don't want this. This is what I need. It's about the team. It's not about the individuals. And I think they are definitely, if we didn't know that before this competition started. We've seen today, I guess not the best team in England, certainly not the best team in Europe, but a good Man City side, that they're going to be the team to beat once again for the third year in a row. They're going to have to have a really bad night or somebody's going to have to have a really good night when it gets to the knockouts, the really important time to beat this PSG side. And that's not that is not going to be easy. >> Did they just send out a warning shot once again, Jurgen, that they are the team to beat in the Champions League for another year? >> Yeah, I think so. I mean, they I mean, they understand the the moment and uh um when when you play these type of games, it's it's a lot about the first 10 15 minutes, how you send out your signals. And what what PJ did to Man City, they told them right away from the beginning on that they win the one against one battles. They were more physical, they were more present, they were more dominating and and that makes you then as an as an opponent, it puts you in the corner and uh once you concede one or two goals, it's very very difficult to get back against Pite Pite with that quality that they have because they as I said before their automatism are there. they know exactly how to kind of interchange positions, you know, I mean, Hakeime, as you said, you know, he was all over the place and um so if you miss the first 15 20 minutes against a team like Beij, it's it's very very difficult to to get a result against them. And yeah, they set the standard, they set the mark clearly throughout the entire Champions League campaign now and uh it's it's up to the other big names, you know, to to catch up with them. >> Before we move on, Robo, sorry. I I was just going to say that to the point that Stewie was making about the high pressure of of PSG, most teams, whether that's the Premier League or even in Champions League, most teams don't really press Manchester City or don't want to press Manchester City because they're able to play through most of that pressure. And so there is a fear that well, if you they play through that initial pressure, then now Manchester City go on the attack with all the talented players that they have. So most things wait for Manchester City. PSG away from home. They don't care. They're going to do what they do best and they're going to do what they feel comfortable doing and that's being in the attacking half and we're going to press you and we're going to disturb the game and we're going to make sure that you're making the mistakes. And when you're making mistakes as home at home as often as Manchester City were in the early part of the game, you start feeling it from the fans as well. The groaning and the moaning and the pressure. It's like what's happening here? And then negative momentum builds and your confidence goes. But you have to be willing to take that chance. PSG did that today and did it very well. Manchester City were not ready for it. >> Were you surprised to see Pep Guardiola in the stands today, Robbo? >> Uh, not particularly because he's he's supported Man City. He's all throughout when he's the manager. Obviously, he did a great job there, but since they've had all the problems, he's still spoken out on their behalf. He's still a a Manchester City supporter, I think, by in terms of the love he has for the club. So, not surprised to see him there. Um but it didn't do the team any good and if he I think if he was manager today after five or 10 minutes he'd have said go long get go beyond the pressure and go into the front players cuz that's what Man City did in the second half and Erin Harland had more touches of the ball in the second half than he's had all season because they went into and he started to look like a center forward that could hold the ball up. He could play it wide. He can make the next run. We know he's a great goal scorer in the second half. He looked a good center forward as well and that enabled to play further forward. Enzo Fernandez played off of him as well. We saw Morris Semeno in the second half because they went from back to front that bit quicker and bypassed the pressure and then that put PSG on the back foot. So the manager didn't do his job I don't think Moresca right at the start of the game. I just don't just briefly on this and it's not a big big deal but I just feel the most successful manager in this club's history albeit this he's got possibly going to have a huge asterisk next to it but that that's another story. I just feel that when you've had that success and you are arguably one of the great managers of all time give the new guy a little bit of time. I don't think you really need to be sitting there at a game where everybody's going, "Yeah, well, he would have done it different. Well, he's better. Well, I I just I don't know. I know he wants to support. I know he knows the players. I I get all that, but it's a bit like, you know, Fergie and Wenger and all these great managers leaving the club and then a few weeks later in the stand every week. It just feels like it needs to give somebody a little bit of time." And I it's a small thing, but I don't know just maybe a little bit more thought I think from him uh about but not being there because I think if you ask the supporters who would you rather have as a manager of football club, they'd probably want the guy sitting in the stand, wouldn't they? So I don't know. I just don't think it's an extremely good look. [music]