It was not necessarily a name that we expected on the match sheet, even less in this role or on the scoreboard of this PSG-Strasbourg, which ended with a great victory for the Parisians (3- 0). However, with the international break and the prospect of hosting AC Milan in the Champions League (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), Carlos Soler was chosen by Luis Enrique to replace… Achraf Hakimi, left on the bench.
A choice that could seem surprising on paper and seem like DIY for Luis Enrique who was obliged to blow certain frames. However, it is in a role copied and pasted from the one he usually entrusts to the Moroccan that we saw Soler.
Cautious and serious defensively
Right back at times, when Paris was organized with 4 defenders, when the ball was in the Parisian camp and even occasionally very close to the touchline; sometimes in the middle, in a more axial role, to complete the trio as the ball rose, and not hesitating to join the offensive players for the placed attack phases, even going so far as to slip into next to Gonçalo Ramos.
It is also with these climbs that he was able, with a certain opportunism, to score his first goal in the Parisian jersey for seven months and a match in Brest on March 11. Well placed within 5.5m of Mats Sels, he only had to put his foot in opposition to deflect a low cross into the goal from Mbappé, author of very good work on the right side (2- 0.31st). The Spaniard even punctuated his match with a decisive pass, with the same opportunism, transforming a favorable counter into a well-felt pass for Fabian Ruiz at the end of the match (3-0, 79th).
Without touching a maddening number of balls (38 in the first period), nor showing the same complicity with Lee Kang-In as Hakimi with Dembélé, Carlos Soler above all strove to produce a serious copy in an unusual role for him. “In this new role, I had to find my bearings,” he declared after the match. In the end, I felt pretty good because there were spaces and because the team was playing offensively. »
Still as frustrating, however, he was sometimes short technically to improve good balls or stay in the rhythm, like on this very good deep ball given by Ruiz. Alone in the area, he has poor chest control and loses the ball (60th).
His defensive positioning and his attitude without the ball were mostly cautious, exuding a desire not to be caught behind his back. Which the Strasbourg attackers, very harmless, fortunately never did. He still offered some interesting interventions, at the Strasbourg feet or to cut off passes, and did not hesitate to press near the Strasbourg area. Replaced by Layvin Kurzawa (82nd), he offered himself in the end, and this is rare enough to be underlined, a more than decent match. “He had a very good match,” said Luis Enrique. He was dangerous, he found himself in the lane too and he made a decisive pass. » Enough to regularly find playing time? Nothing is less certain: Carlos Soler is one of the players who could have an exit voucher this winter.
