Leaving the World Cup with regrets and beautiful goals that will be remembered forever, returning to Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain, the style of play is becoming more and more unpretentious.
More involvement in defense, a lot of retreats to organize advances, wedding clothes for teammates, no ball through the box cover, and occasionally get a chance of your own. Neymar, who doesn't like Neymar, who has both attack and defense?
01. Dowry for teammates: Neymar organizes advances and passes to threaten the ball
a. Double high + 3 flexible midfielders: Neymar bravely broke through to the Reims midfield
Reims, in a 451 formation, has two tall black midfielders Cayust and Munesi in the midfield (waiting for the opportunity to step forward to participate in the attack), and three small men with good flexibility and fast movement, cutting off the connection between Paris and back as much as possible.
Messi has just returned from a holiday and is in average form, and Paris' attack mainly relies on Neymar's running, pushing and passing to initiate the ball.
Both Moonesi and Cayust are types with long legs, good flexibility and good speed and strength. With one stop in the middle, and the three small men around them quickly moved sideways to fill in position, it was difficult for Paris to attack.
Neymar frequently retreats, using his personal ability to create opportunities to attack. However, the cooperation in the middle still has a high error rate, and this time the ball wing passes back to Messi, which is a rare flash.
Neymar's overhead ball was just right, but it was a pity that his teammate returned to find Messi to catch up with his right foot. Messi's shooting felt average in this game, and it also had a lot to do with a few good chances coming to the reverse foot.
Looking at this wave of counter-attacks, Neymar first sent a straight plug to Mbappe, who burst into the box and was saved by the goalkeeper.
Then Neymar immediately countered the tackle, followed by a wonderful pass to Messi. Unfortunately, the ball caught up with his right foot again, and Messi stopped the ball with his left foot and shot against his foot, slightly deflected.
b. Neymar frequently leads counter-attacks
In addition to scoring one goal in this game, Neymar also had 13 1-on-1 meetings at his feet, winning 7 times.
Complete 3 passes, 3 key passes with shots, and defensive stats for 2 tackles, 1 interception and 1 clearance.
Especially after Neymar scored a goal to take a 1-0 lead, and then Verratti was sent off with a red card, Paris began to look for counter-attacking opportunities. Neymar retraced very strongly, and frequently came to the 30-meter area of his side to organize advances.
This time his successive passes cleared the way, but Ashraf failed to pass the ball to Mbappe at the far end, allowing the opportunity to disappear.
It is a pity that in this counter-attack opportunity in the first half, Mbappe may have wanted to show his selfless side.
However, after receiving Neymar's score, Mbappe, who did not shoot by himself this time, chose to cross to find Neymar to make people happy, but the quality of the pass was still a little worse.
02. Named to the All-Tournament Team as a midfielder: Neymar worked too hard defensively
a. Neymar really worked hard: a header from inside the box
In this round of Ligue 1, Neymar was named in the best team as a midfielder. Not just because he scored a brilliant pick and pass to organize the attack, but also because of his dedication on the defensive end.
So far this season, Neymar has averaged more than 3 tackles + interceptions + fouls + clearances + blocks per game (effectively interrupting the opponent's offensive rounds), which is a good statistic for an attacker.
This time, Messi worked with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in front of the penalty area, but it was difficult to break the double height of Reims.
Neymar made a precise kick after a teammate's first interception, giving Paris a second chance to attack.
After 10-on-11, Neymar frequently pulled back his backfield to participate in defense. This time the opponent's corner kick, Neymar jumped to the header to clear, which was impressive.
When Reims took advantage of the numerical advantage and began to suppress Paris, Neymar retreated directly to the midfield position, and the team was in a 432 formation.
However, due to the lack of defensive numbers, Reims easily found opportunities to advance or pass from the flanks, allowing center Balogun to frequently sprint behind the Paris defense.
Although Neymar is back, the coverage of the Paris midfield is still on the small side. After all, there are only 3 people defending, and there are loopholes in the horizontal.
This time Neymar intercepted the first straight block, but then was sent a cross by the opponent from the wing.
b. Was the goal a result of luck or hard work?
As you can see from the statistics, Neymar's contribution on the defensive end is second only to Ashraf. He played hard in the game, not only defensively, but also a lot of off-the-ball interspersed on the offensive end.
There was some element of luck in the goal, Messi's shot was of mediocre quality, but it bounced off Bernat and onto Neymar's feet.
The ball was able to get because Neymar actively inserted into the box without the ball, and after winning the ball, he calmly passed the goalkeeper and finally scored with his left foot to give Paris the lead.
It is also Neymar's 25 appearances for Paris this season, with a total of 17 goals, 14 assists and a direct contribution of 31 goals.
03. 10-for-11 shots 4-4 & Neymar's next shot 0-4
a. Neymar down: 0-4 in the last 10 minutes
In the 59th minute of the match, Verratti was sent off with a red card. After that, the two teams drew 4-4 on goal at one point.
However, after Marr was substituted in the 85th minute, the number of shots became a lopsided 0-4, and finally Paris was scored by the opponent in the 95th minute.
Paris are clearly not enough to count on defense, especially since Emery is not very good at it.
Without Neymar's advance, Paris could not fight back, and it became a situation of being besieged by Reims.
This time Barogon gave Dumbia a good chance, and the latter's attempt to pass the ball again was a bit of a stretch.
b. Arsenal loan youngster: This is not an accident
The brightest player on Reims' side was Arsenal's loaned Barlogon, who had six shots on goal, but only one goal was not satisfactory when he was expected to score 1.38.
However, in the final moments of the game, Balogon was given too many chances and the Paris defense could not keep up with him.
His forward thrust was fast and his shots were very decisive, but unfortunately most of his bursts after cutting through the box were sky-high.
The final equalizer was precisely the fatal mistake of Emery, who replaced Neymar.
His return pass was sent far behind his teammates, allowing Dumbia to send a straight line, and Balogon drove straight into the scoring to score his 11th goal of the season and become the most scored Under-21 player in the top five leagues.
Conclusion:
Perhaps in Paris Saint-Germain's long-term plans, Neymar is no longer the man the team needs. However, from the perspective of the content of the game, there is actually a big gap between Paris and without Neymar.
Working hard to advance, pass and defend, still chasing his football dreams, the soon-to-be-31-year-old Neymar has not given up on himself, what he needs is a chance and a willingness to believe in him.