Alves, Kurzawa to blame for PSG's loss

Published on: 22 January 2018

Paris Saint-Germain's lead at the top of Ligue 1 has been cut to eight points after a 2-1 defeat away at Lyon. Layvin Kurzawa spectacularly cancelled out Nabil Fekir's stunning opener on the stroke of half-time at Groupama Stadium, but Dani Alves' red card made things harder for Unai Emery's men, who eventually succumbed to a ferocious late Memphis Depay strike.

Positives

On a bad night for PSG, Adrien Rabiot was a rare shining light. Although the France international started slowly and conceded the foul that enabled Fekir to open the scoring, he recovered well and was commanding from then on. However, aside from Rabiot, there was little to be positive about from a Parisien point of view.

Negatives

Alphonse Areola needs to take a look at his positioning on Fekir's opening goal. Rabiot and Kurzawa can be quizzed on their roles in Lyon taking the lead, but no matter how good Fekir's shot from the free kick was, Areola should not be beaten like he was.

Kurzawa might have equalised with a superb first-half strike, but he gifted Lyon the ball back less than a minute from the end of the match, and Depay punished that in style. Overall, the Kurzawa's performance was more of an argument for Yuri Berchiche to keep starting ahead of him than it was for him to take his starting role back.

PSG's fragile character also showed itself again, which is worrying ahead of Real Madrid in the Champions League next month. Even after Alves' rush of blood to the head got him sent off, they should have been capable of holding on for the draw.

Manager rating out of 10

4 -- Emery's starting XI made sense in places, especially with Neymar missing, but the Spaniard was not helped by Fekir's early goal, with Kylian Mbappe being forced off injured and then Alves' red card. Still, his full-back selections were questionable, considering Berchiche's superiority of late.

Player ratings (1-10, with 10 the best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Alphonse Areola, 4 -- The French shot-stopper made some important interventions, but he was poor on Fekir's opener and blown away by Depay's winner.

DF Dani Alves, 3 -- The Brazil international teed up Kurzawa for his superb equaliser but was otherwise dreadful and talked himself into a straight red card in the second half -- something he should have known better than to do.

DF Marquinhos, 6 -- The 23-year-old was largely solid alongside compatriot Thiago Silva in central defence and could have done nothing to prevent either goal because Rabiot committed the foul and Kurzawa gave the ball away.

DF Thiago Silva, 6 -- The captain was more or less calm and collected alongside Marquinhos, and the pair were let down by the likes of Alves, Kurzawa and Areola at the back.

DF Layvin Kurzawa, 4 -- The France international was caught out in the buildup to Fekir's opener, even if Rabiot was the one who committed the foul, and the left-back appeared to have redeemed an otherwise error-ridden performance with a superb equaliser, only to throw it away by gifting Lyon the ball for Depay to crash home the winner.

MF Giovani Lo Celso, 4 -- Although the Argentinian has been excellent in defensive midfield recently, he went missing in Lyon, and his second-half booking was one of the few moments that reminded everybody that he was still on the pitch.

MF Marco Verratti, 6 -- The Italy international did not look as comfortable as he has done in recent matches, and it was not a surprise when he was finally handed a yellow card in the second half.

MF Adrien Rabiot, 7 -- Rabiot was mature in midfield and metronomic at times. It was a shame that Lo Celso and Verratti could not mirror his level of performance up against an inspired Tanguy Ndombele.

FW Kylian Mbappe, 5 -- The Monaco loanee lasted only 35 minutes before he was substituted after a heavy collision with Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.

FW Edinson Cavani, 4 -- The Uruguayan nearly scored one of the goals of the season with a first-half effort from close to the halfway line, but other than a booking and a few efforts at Lopes' goal, he did not come close to setting a new record as PSG's all-time top scorer.

FW Angel Di Maria, 5 -- The Argentina international was quiet after an excellent start to 2018, and Emery chose to withdraw him when Alves saw red.

Dani Alves JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images

Substitutes

FW Julian Draxler, 5 -- The German replaced the injured Mbappe but never really got into the match, despite being on the pitch for nearly an hour.

DF Thomas Meunier, 6 -- The 26-year-old was a big improvement over Alves at right-back after the Brazilian was dismissed, but should he have started anyway?

MF Javier Pastore, NR -- The Argentina international made his first appearance of 2018, but the last four minutes or so at the end were not long enough for him to get truly involved.

Source: espn.co.uk

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