Thierry Henry provides brutal assessment of PSG's shortcomings following Arsenal defeat

Today at 04:36 AM

Paris Saint-Germain got their UEFA Champions League campaign off to a start with an arguably fortuitous win over Girona a fortnight ago. Looking to make it two wins in two, they headed to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal, however, they succumbed to a 2-0 loss to the Premier League side. Speaking on CBS Sports post-match former Arsenal forward and France U21 manager Thierry Henry provided an assessment of what Les Parisiens are lacking. 

William Saliba told Canal Plus post-match that Ousmane Dembélé’s absence helped Arsenal, and Henry agreed. The former Barcelona winger was omitted from the squad for disciplinary reasons. 

‘[PSG] don’t have that match-winner’ – Henry

However, in a match in which PSG lacked a cutting edge, the problems run deeper, as Henry explained. “I think it is a different ball game when you have a (Marco) Verratti, an (Ousmane) Dembélé, (Kylian) Mbappé, obviously we’ve talked out it. The team is well-balanced. They had the ball, a lot of possession but that is about it. That wasn’t enough,” began Henry. 

The former Arsenal forward then went on to state what is currently missing from the team. “They don’t have that match-winner that they had in the past.Yes the team is more well-balanced, you can see there is an idea when they approach the other team but in and around the box, apart from Bradley Barcola, who was trying to do something, we didn’t see much.”

In the league, Barcola and the absent Dembélé have stood up in recent weeks to be the match-winners for PSG but in what was their first big test of the season, they fell short. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle