It is not every day that a player scores a hat-trick and then receives public criticism from their head coach. Even rarer, in Paris at least, that such criticism should be directed at Kylian Mbappe.
Following Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-0 victory over Stade de Reims on Saturday, a match in which Mbappe scored all three goals, Luis Enrique caused a stir. During his post-match interview with Prime Video Sport France, the former Barcelona coach was asked whether Mbappe was the best player in the world.
Advertisement
“I am not very happy with Kylian today,” he said, with a wry smile. “Why? Because managers are so strange. About goals, I don’t have to say anything! But I think he can help the team more. In a different way. I will tell it to him first (before you) because it’s not a private conversation. But we think Kylian is one of the best players in the world. No doubt. But we need more and we want him doing more things.”
🗣 @LUISENRIQUE21 : "Je ne suis pas vraiment content de Kylian aujourd'hui." 😳#SDRPSG
— Prime Video Sport France (@PVSportFR) November 11, 2023
They were comments made with a hint of jest, but they were not without weight. He further elaborated to the written media, quoted here by Le Parisien: “He scored three goals, and if anyone didn’t see the match, you might think it was a great match,” he said. “But there are points where he can improve like other players. He’s the one who knows it. As I said, he must not rest on his laurels and always seek to progress.”
Mbappe’s performance, in an attacking sense, was certainly not below par. His goals were of high quality. The first was a first-time volley from an Ousmane Dembele cross, a finish that may go down as one of the best of the season.
It took Kylian Mbappe just 3 minutes to open the scoring for PSG today! 😮💨
What a goal it was! 🤩
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 11, 2023
His next two both involved intelligent movement. The 24-year-old shapes to run inside defender Joseph Okumu…
But just as the defender tries to accommodate that movement, he darts the other way. Carlos Soler reads his movement and sets up an easy finish.
His third goal was similar, but with the opposite movement.
Kylian Mbappe completes his hat-trick as PSG go 3-0 up against Reims! ⚽️⚽️⚽️
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 11, 2023
Mbappe now has 15 goals from 15 matches this season, and he has been a key factor in PSG’s return to the Ligue 1 summit. So what does Luis Enrique think he needs to improve?
Advertisement
There were a few clues from the match in Reims. For one thing, PSG’s display was far from perfect. Will Still’s side have confounded expectations so far this season with their energetic approach and they were arguably the better team over the course of 90 minutes. They created more chances, had more attempts on goal and unsettled the visitors. Ultimately, it was thanks to Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal, and the finishing of Mbappe, that PSG triumphed.
But Luis Enrique has repeatedly explained how his playing philosophy is very much a collective one. “The objective is to have 11 attackers and 11 defenders,” he said after PSG’s 4-0 win over Marseille. “What matters is the team’s mentality, which we show together. We play together. That is the aim.”
His philosophy places emphasis on a very high press. One of the eye-catching elements of Luis Enrique’s early influence is the degree to which PSG’s off-ball work has evolved. This is partly because he demands that his team dominate the ball, in order to control matches, and when they lose it they have to win it back quickly. “We always try to press so the opponent doesn’t have time,” he said earlier this season. “So that they are watching the clock.”
This is a departure from last season for Mbappe and it is not the strongest aspect of his game. Against Reims, his off-ball work was inconsistent, particularly his reaction time to turnovers.
We can cherry-pick a couple of examples. In the first half, Fabian Ruiz tries to play a pass in behind the Reims defence…
But it is cut out, and the ball is played forward…
Mbappe had made a run, but does not recover quickly. A return pass is made before Mbappe moves.
This is then immediately in contrast with Goncalo Ramos, who anticipates the next pass and begins his press as the pass is made…
In another instance in the second half, the ball is played back to goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf, and Mbappe misjudges his press. Lee Kang-in, playing now as a false nine, presses the goalkeeper and Mbappe half follows.
He is screening any pass played on the floor, but because he has pushed up he can be easily chipped…
…allowing the breakaway.
Near the end of the match, there is also another moment where Mbappe’s positioning catches him out. Emmanuel Agbadou, the Reims full-back, makes a simple run off his shoulder into space…
… and Reims play around Mbappe, who does not recover his position.
There are some caveats. For one thing, Mbappe often appears to be “cheating” when in a wide role. In other words, he is encouraged to stay high out of possession in order to trigger quick counter-attacks. Twice this happened in the first half where, with PSG under pressure, Mbappe was smartly able to win fouls. Mbappe is also a forward — and one who rotates into a central position. Defensive work is not his primary duty.
Advertisement
It is also not the case that Mbappe failed to do any off-ball work. In one example in the first half, he successfully pressured the ball on the opposite flank, covering a great deal of ground…
… to force an error that leads to PSG regaining possession.
This was not an isolated example — in the second half, he made a 60-yard run to recover his defensive position to slow a Reims break.
But the numbers do paint a broader picture. Mbappe made only one data-noted ‘recovery’ during the 90 minutes, according to data through FotMob. He also made no tackles, or ‘defensive actions’ (tackles, interceptions or clearances). This was the lowest return of any outfield player who started the game. Indeed, PSG substitute Bradley Barcola (74th minute), made three recoveries and one defensive action, while striker Ramos (substituted at half-time), made five, including winning one tackle. Dembele, on the opposite flank to Mbappe, won two tackles and made four recoveries.
In previous PSG iterations, the team has become unbalanced, with some players doing more legwork than the others. The ‘pinnacle’ of that came last season under Christophe Galtier, where in one game, at home to Lorient, neither Lionel Messi nor Mbappe were involved in the team’s off-ball shape despite going down to 10 men.
That will not happen under Luis Enrique. At Barcelona, during his treble-winning season in 2014-15, he was widely acclaimed for getting Neymar and Messi to contribute more off the ball. Using data from WhoScored, Neymar averaged 1.8 tackles per 90 minutes, and o.3 interceptions. Messi attempted 1.1 tackles per 90 minutes and 0.2 interceptions. By contrast, Mbappe has attempted 0.4 tackles per 90 minutes and 0.1 interceptions this season.
Those numbers also contrast with some of his team-mates at PSG and that wider context could easily explain why Luis Enrique was moved to comment after the Reims match. Dembele, for instance, has attempted 1.9 tackles per 90 minutes this season. That is a big gulf.
Advertisement
Whether Luis Enrique elaborates further on the exact nature of his criticism remains to be seen, but it certainly seems that off-ball work is likely to be a key factor.
Whether those comments have a desired effect, only time will tell. This is uncharted territory as he has gone further than any of his predecessors. The main question for now is how the France captain will react to this criticism, particularly when speculation about his future continues apace. His contract expires at the end of the season.
But it seems unlikely the remarks will go down too badly. Even before Luis Enrique took to the microphone, Mbappe did not exactly sound thrilled about his performance either.
“It feels good to score a hat-trick,” he told Prime Video Sport France at full time. “The most important thing is to have a good feeling in the game. In all humility, I don’t need to play well to score. What I want is to play well and score. It’s my goal to try to help my team as much as possible.”
For Mbappe, it seems a hat-trick is not always enough for him or his manager.
(Top photo: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
