Player Focus: Advanced Position Giving Di María Wings in Paris

It is fair to say that it is difficult to imagine two more sharply contrasting on-pitch personalities than Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ángel Di María. Both may be extravagantly talented, but while one tops his fireworks off with bombast and bravado, the other is more subtle, spindly and elusive, almost apologetic in his brilliance. 

Yet both players have, on their arrival at Paris Saint-Germain, had similar effects on the club. Without either or both, the direction in which the Parisian side was going was still in little doubt. Both, however, have added a different dimension to the Parc des Princes club, in terms of adaptability on the field and in the sense of global perception off it. 

Ibrahimovic was the player who changed PSG - in his own image - from being the growing shadow looming over French football to the ogre that gripped it tightly. Barring accidents, the final year of his four-year contract at the club will see them win the Ligue 1 title for the fourth successive time.  

After ending a 5-match drought against Guingamp this week, Ibrahimovic looks like his foreboding self again. Saturday’s equaliser at Nantes took the Swede onto 108 goals for the club in all competitions, just one behind Pedro Pauleta’s all-time club record. Incidentally, the poacher from the Azores took 211 games to hit that total, while Ibrahimovic has currently made just 135 appearances for PSG.  

Still, his time at the club is seemingly coming towards its end and - even for a player with his apparent superpowers - age is catching up. Ibrahimovic will be 34 on Saturday and the aches, pains and sprains are mounting. There has been a feeling for a while that PSG are as good as they’re going to get with Zlatan pulling the strings.  

Di María promises to give the French champions something else, which is why president Nasser Al-Khelaifi coveted him for so long. With Ligue 1 looking like PSG’s to lose already, it’s in the Champions League that Di María’s success or otherwise will really be measured, but the early signs are promising.  

The 27-year-old’s goal at La Beaujoire on Saturday afternoon was the pick in PSG’s comeback win, a perfect lob over Rudy Riou, which epitomised grace, vision and technique. It was also his third goal in 4 matches in all competitions, suggesting that he is already well on the way to having the measure of his new challenges. 

It’s important that this is the case, and not only as Di María seeks to rehabilitate himself after a season at Manchester United that fell well short of his own standards, even if a final tally of 3 goals and 10 assists in 20 starts suggests it wasn’t quite the unmitigated disaster that many argue. One of his major problems at Old Trafford was that he existed without a defined role, being used as a deluxe utility player by Louis van Gaal. 

Already, Di María appears to have been assigned a clear spot by Laurent Blanc - on the right of a three-man attack, as he was used in his early days at both Benfica and Real Madrid. In plain numerical terms, it has paid immediate dividends, with 2 goals and 3 assists in 3 Ligue 1 starts. He also has a goal from his one Champions League appearance against Malmö, with Shakhtar Donetsk next up on Wednesday. 

Blanc using Di María in that advanced role is providing him with the opportunity to get more shots away. He averages 3.4 per game in the league to date, more than at any other stage of his club career by some distance.  

The WhoScored player average position maps for the games against Guingamp and Nantes show him right at the sharp end, almost forming a front two with Lucas Moura on Saturday as Ibrahimovic dropped into a number 10 role. Yet as PSG seek to go past the quarter-finals this term after three straight eliminations in the last eight of the Champions League, there is doubt over whether he should be employed in the same way on European nights. 

Perhaps the defining performance of Di María’s career was his outstanding display in El Real’s win over Atlético Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final. Playing in a deeper midfield position as he did for most of the second half of that season - on the left of a 4-3-3, in this particular case - his influence was everywhere. He had 116 touches in Lisbon - only Sergio Ramos, with 133, had more - among which were 2 shots and 2 key passes. 

Di María also completed 6 dribbles in that match, which shows exactly why he was so decisive, stretching the play and changing the momentum of the game as Diego Simeone’s team began to flag. It will be fascinating to see if he takes up a similar role against his old club on matchday 3 of the Champions League when his old club visit Le Parc.  

What has become abundantly clear, however, is that Blanc and his coaching staff have the right idea in using him further forward in domestic matches. Put bluntly, Ligue 1 is a competition in which the majority of the teams share a primarily defensive mindset.  

In theory, this means that somebody of Di María’s quality is invaluable in picking the lock. Yet when he plays in a deeper position, as he aimed to in the recent draw at Reims despite replacing a forward in his compatriot Ezequiel Lavezzi, he can struggle to be as effective as he was in those glorious performances in the Champions League and Copa del Rey finals of 2014. 

Attempting to break from further back in order to create space and open up the match, Di María continually ran into traffic. His 24-minute cameo - his least effective performance since arriving, rating 6.17 - was frustrating to say the least. He produced just 1 key pass and gave the ball away with 36% of his 25 touches. 

So however Di María is used best in Europe, the advanced position should remain his at home. All that remains to be seen is how quickly PSG can wrap up Ligue 1 with his verve at their disposal.

Have you been impressed by Ángel Di María's start to life in Paris? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below