It would be unfair to place on Danilo Pereira the weight of an expectation for which he is not responsible and which owes above all to the inability of the PSG leaders to recruit a defensive midfielder by profession for two seasons. But to say that the arrival on loan of the Portuguese international (29) sparked a hope that was only very partially fulfilled after his first against Manchester United (defeat 1-2) is not just a view of the mind. It is not easy to start with a Champions League match of this ilk when you have barely two training sessions with your new partners. It is therefore not a question of sounding the hallali after this first disappointing performance, but of seeing where the gaps lie and to trace perspectives to imagine a Danilo Pereira operative and efficient.
“We must give him a little time and not condemn him immediately, comments Alain Giresse the former midfielder of the Blues (47 caps). But it’s true that he made a copy pretty bland. It’s worrying because what is expected of him are not just side passes. In a team like PSG, a sentry must be able to bring the balloons out to the front and not just collect them. For me Danilo Pereira must be able to go higher, if only by passing to look for his attackers in the feet or in the race. We saw it with Joshua Kimmich on Wednesday night at Bayern Munich-Atlético de Madrid (4-0), a pass can trigger a goal action. “
To illustrate the words of the former member of the magic square it suffices to look at the statistics of the meeting. The players Danilo Pereira sought out the most are Layvin Kurzawa and Presnel Kimpembe, with 9 and 8 assists respectively. We then find combinations with Ander Herrera and Adbou Diallo (7 and 6 assists). Or a majority of defenders. For his first match, the Lusitanian international played it safe with side transmissions or straight back.
90% successful passes, but little risk taking
This is not very surprising and can easily be explained by a lack of benchmarks. But this did not allow Paris to quickly project forward or find partners in the intervals. He only sent one pass to Angel Di Maria, none to Kylian Mbappé and five to Neymar. “But it was often when the Brazilian stalled to come back to get the balls low enough on the ground,” says Alain Giresse.
In the end, the new Parisian recruit made 46 passes out of the 51 attempted, a flattering success rate of 90% which must be considered in the light of minimal risk taking. More surprisingly, the Porto player loaned to PSG committed only one fault in the second half to “kill” an English counterattack, an action on which he received a yellow card.
But observers have mostly remained unsatisfied on his ability to give a rhythm to the game of his team. “We also expected him to be able to set the tempo of the Parisian game like Thiago Motta did and he did not. The level of play, the ambition and the sporting project of PSG call for this type of player, confirms Giresse. Then you may have to wait for Verratti to come back, a complementarity can be created between the two and that can free Danilo. I just hope he has the right technical profile for it. “
“When Verratti returns, he will be complementary as he is in selection with Moutinho, assures for his part, Rui Almeida, the Portuguese technician (passed through Red Star, Bastia, Troyes or Caen). I am convinced that Danilo has the qualities and the temperament to succeed in Paris. As Thiago Motta was, he’s a real sentinel, but he knows how to adapt to a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 from Tuchel. He reads and understands the game well and is very good in duels. “
