One of the voices of European football on talkSPORT and Sky Sports, well known for The Football Ramble podcast, an author and writer for The Guardian - and a regular contributor here at Spurs for almost 10 years - Andy Brassell will give his view on our UEFA Champions League opponents as part of our '60 seconds on...' pre-match feature this season.
Next up, it's MD5 and having faced them in in the UEFA Super Cup in August, it's our first Champions League encounter against holders and Ligue 1 giants, Paris Saint-Germain, at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening (8pm UK).
@andybrassell
State of play
Andy: “PSG played Le Havre this weekend and it was, I guess, a fair example of where they're at at the moment. Obviously, they're still the best team in Ligue 1, though they're getting some competition from Marseille, who've been very, very good this season. In the circumstances, they've done very well to stay top. Now, look, it might seem to a lot of people like it's obvious that PSG are top - they're the European champions, they're the best team in France, they're the wealthiest club in France, etc... but their schedule has been so extraordinary, really, over the last couple of years. They played every match it was possible to play last season, because they played in the play-off round of the Champions League as they didn't finish particularly high up in the league stage. Indeed, five, six matches into the league stage, it was in doubt whether they'd actually go through in the top 24. Then, at the end of the season, they played in the Club World Cup. So, this season was always going to be a bit of a balancing act - how do they manage the physical condition of the players? On the whole, Luis Enrique has done that quite well. They've had as many injuries as I think you would reasonably expect, but they've dealt with that quite well."
Chevalier impresses against Le Havre
Andy: "Saturday’s game against Le Havre was quite a good case in point. In the end, they won comfortably. You look at the numbers, they had loads of the ball, loads of shots, but Didier Digard, the former Middlesbrough player who is now Head Coach at Le Havre, got them to go there and play quite bravely and have a go at PSG in the first half, which nearly worked. Lucas Chevalier had one of his best games since arriving in Paris. He was really, really good. Obviously, it's a big ask trying to replace Gianluigi Donnarumma, he’s a different type of goalkeeper, but nevertheless he's got a huge thing to live up to succeeding Donnarumma in that way, especially after how he was the best goalkeeper in the Champions League last season. However, Chevalier was really good and they needed him to be, which maybe people would not expect."
PSG personnel - Neves the one to watch
Andy: "In terms of personnel, it was all good news for them against Le Havre. Nuno Mendes came back after his injury and he's the best left-back in the world. They desperately needed him, especially with Achraf Hakimi out on the other side. Warren Zaire-Emery, a midfielder, is playing right-back at the moment. Mendes got an assist as well. They were able to leave Marquinhos and Willian Pacho on the bench, unused subs, and bring back Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Fabián Ruiz and Bradley Barcola for little cameos. Barcola has played an extraordinary amount of football - over 90 games in the last 16 months, which is pretty insane! If you're looking at the dangermen for Spurs, João Neves is maybe, you could even argue, the best midfield player in the world at the moment. He's so, so good. He's scored again against Le Havre and he’s added goals to his game this season, including a hat-trick against Toulouse and for Portugal against Armenia last week."
PSG's story so far in this season's UCL
Andy: "This time around in the Champions League we've seen PSG - I guess because of their brush with not qualifying last season, which is remarkable given that they ended up winning it - go out and flattened teams. They scored four goals against Atalanta (4-0 win), seven against Bayer Leverkusen (7-2 away). They don't really want to leave anything to chance this time. So, you'd expect them to feel a strong line-up on Wednesday night. The team that Luis Enrique picked against Le Havre suggested that he will use Fabián Ruiz, Kvaratskhelia and Barcola probably from the start. So, even though they're missing Ousmane Dembélé and Desiré Doué, who are both still injured, they've still got plenty of options. I think the way that Enrique is juggling his resources - which are obviously very good resources - but they do have injuries to absolutely key players at the moment so, as I said, I think he's doing it very well."
