Where Will Neymar Line Up with Paris Saint-Germain?
Neymar has normally lined up out left in the attack for both Brazil and Barcelona, but he has always performed his best when he has the space to drift into the center of the attack behind the striker to orchestrate goals and score goals.
Neymar covers a lot of territory as a player. He likes to drop deep into the midfield to collect the ball, and he likes being able to play passes to the left or to the right.
At Barcelona, Messi would normally collect the ball out on the right and immediately cut into the center of the field to attack the defense and feed his teammates.
In recent years, one of the trademark plays of Messi was to play chips over the defense to his onrushing teammates. Messi played nonstop chips and through balls for his teammates to score while also playing passes and then bursting forward to receive the ball back again. All of this was great, but it prevented Neymar from occupying this playmaking role.
With PSG, Neymar will be the focal point of the team as he is with Brazil, and no matter where he lines up on paper, he’s going to be in the center of the attack behind Edinson Cavani or whoever is playing striker. Neymar’s playmaker role will affect how much Javier Pastore and Julian Draxler play.
In a perfect world, starting Neymar and Pastore together would be the best thing for PSG. Pastore is a Number 10, but he has less scoring tendencies than Neymar. The Argentinean wouldn’t get in Neymar’s way. The difference between playing with Pastore and playing with Messi is that Neymar was essentially forced to defer to Messi. Although Pastore is a world-class playmaker, you have the sense that he knows how to get out of Neymar’s way. If Neymar goes into the center, Pastore would just go wide, and vice versa.
Neymar and Pastore starting together is possible, but Angel Di Maria will most likely start over Pastore. Di Maria plays on the right wing where he can cut onto his left foot, and this would put Neymar in a similar system to the one he played in at Barcelona.
Many people view Neymar has an attacker that plays on the left side, but anyone who has watched Neymar play for Brazil knows that Neymar shifts into the middle where he can orchestrate the attack and control the team’s passing. The same thing will likely happen at Paris Saint-Germain.
Where Neymar Will Line up for PSG
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