Three things we learned as PSG dominated Marseille in Le Classique | OneFootball

George Boxall – from the Stade Vélodrome, Marseille

This first Le Classique clash of the 2024-2025 season was a litmus test for the real potential of Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille side, but Les Olympiens simply didn’t live up to the pre-match hype.

Lacking intensity and mistake-ridden from the get-go, Marseille were simply brushed aside by the Parisien visitors owing to a vital nine-minute period where Joao Neves opened the scoring and Amine Harit was given a (somewhat harsh) red card. When Balerdi turned Hakimi’s cross into the back of his own net to double PSG’s advantage, it seemed the damage was done and the writing was on the wall for De Zerbi’s men. When Barcola netted the third before half-time, it effectively rendered the second-half a stale non-event.

Luis Enrique tactically outwits a lacklustre De Zerbi side

It was one of those days that hasn’t yet come for Marseille yet, but De Zerbi’s uncompromising set-up was clearly out-thought by Luis Enrique. PSG pressed high onto Les Olympiens, and it generated a number of mistakes from OM when passing out the back. At Brighton, De Zerbi was out-thought on such occasions where teams deliberately set up to disrupt their pre-established passing patterns out the back, leading to huge deficits against the likes of Everton (5-1) and Aston Villa (6-0).

This is the first time this season that a side has troubled OM like this, but not by simply dropping into a low block, but by adapting the midfielders and forwards to harass Hojbjerg and Rabiot on the ball. It proved decisive in the first half, with a multitude of mistakes costing Les Phocéens the Classique. Hojbjerg always looked like he was overcompensating for the apparent disappearance of Rabiot, and he was often rash in the challenge. A lot of this was also down to an inexplicable lack of intensity both before and after the red card for Amine Harit.  Les Parisiens seemed to gleefully take advantage, and an imperious performance from Joao Neves thrown into the mix with the red card really killed off any competition by half-time.

Ousmane Dembélé as a false nine bore its fruits

A special classico tweak by Luis Enrique was introduced: Ousmane Dembélé was played as a false nine at the Vélodrome. Whilst he featured in a No.10 position behind Kylian Mbappé last season, it was a novelty seeing the Frenchman play as a deep-lying playmaker. Out of possession, the Frenchman found himself in a useful position to latch onto some wayward passing from Marseille in the first half, and was an important part of the PSG press which hassled an intensity-lacking Marseille midfield.

In possession it was a different Dembélé to the tricky speedster that we’re so used to seeing operate on the right wing. Against Marseille, he sat a little deeper and acted as an effective playmaker. A breath of fresh air, and reassurance he isn’t as one-dimensional as we thought he was.

Joao Neves is still world class (and he can score)

Yes, I know we already knew that – especially given his positive start to the season since signing for Les Parisiens. But sometimes you have to be reminded of these things. It’s somewhat surprising that Neves hasn’t actually scored yet for PSG, given his hugely promising attacking output in terms of attacking passes and assists. He finally got off the mark early on in the classico, tucking away Nuno Mendes’ cross with an easy enough finish for his first goal in Ligue 1 and for PSG.

Given an eight by my colleague Raphaël Jucobin on GFFN’s Player Ratings, it was another Ligue 1 masterclass for the silky midfielder. He was decisive in possession for Les Parisiens on the ball, with 86 ball touches and a 96% pass accuracy. Not only that, he was an important turnover figure for PSG in the middle of the park, winning eight duels and completing four tackles. The Portuguese international is living up to his reputation as not only a playmaker but also as a  midfield all-rounder.

GFFN | George Boxall