A permanent movement and 128 balloons affected: Neymar is already enjoying the PSG

Ligue 1 - Beyond its goal and its decisive pass, Neymar had a monumental influence on the game of the PSG from its first appearance under the Parisian jersey to Guingamp (0-3) Sunday.

The Roudourou country garden was not conducive to a discreet entry for Neymar, which provokes a disproportionate expectation, beyond the usual followers of the Ligue 1. Unconcerned of these considerations, the Brazilian has already answered statistically with a goal and a decisive pass. But above all, for a start with the Paris club where he held until the final whistle, a figure underlines his voluntary state of mind: 128 affected balloons already, his best total in a championship game (behind a Match against Gijon last March). At the Roudourou, it was only preceded by Marco Verratti (132), eternal hub of the PSG.

Aligned in his preferential position as left wing of the attacking trident, the ex-Catalan was never static and did not just stay in his corridor. The Brazilian recruit often chose to drop out or refocus, perhaps to better stick to his choice of number. This omnipresence confirmed that his impatience to play, proclaimed the day of his presentation, was not feigned. Through his incessant displacements, Neymar sought to make himself systematically available to his partners from the start. He also believed to save a deciding pass on his first touch, but his ball for Angel Di Maria was too long.

Automations to perfect

Using for the Guingampais, he sought to make himself free by regularly stepping backwards. His omnipresence and his desire to be at the start of the actions even pushed Adrien Rabiot to rise a notch to compensate his absence in line of attack. Neymar has in fact never stopped provoking in the image of his dribbles (11 out of 16 successful). Not always skilled, his reward certainly arrived only in the 83rd minute with the third goal in Paris registered in two stages after two services Edinson Cavani. But before that he did an invisible but influential work: on the opening of the score, his willingness to continue the action after an imprecise pass was transformed into pressing combined with Angel Di Maria on Jordan Ikoko, author of the irreparable .

If the mechanics turned rather well against Guingamp, Unai Emery will have to be wary. In the course of the first period alone, Neymar lost 19 balloons. This figure denotes automatisms to perfect with its attack partners Cavani or Di Maria. But it also highlights a player who enjoys taking risks. Against formations less docile, the PSG could pay the price to have in its ranks both Neymar and Verratti because Guingamp did not perfectly exploit his few counter-attacks.