PSG Team Guide

Paris St Germain Team Guide

 

Overview

PSG offers a good challenge for players who wish to try a team that doesn’t have an unlimited budget but also doesn’t require you to be an expert. They have a team of world class players across the field who are so good that it’s not a case of whether you will win the league but rather by how much. They are probably the easiest team to achieve success with and are definitely worth considering if you are just starting out.

Advantages

• World class players in most positions

• Players who can play a number of positions offering flexibility

• Competing in a relatively weak league so should dominate (eg in Jan 2016 are already 21 points clear at top of table)

• Good starting budget

• Probably the easiest team to win Sugar Daddy with

 

Disadvantages

• Dangerously thin depth

• Some critical players are on wrong side of 30

• Youngsters don’t look likely to make step up in quality

 

Goalkeepers

Both Sirigu and Trapp are solid goalkeepers who you should keep for at least Season 1. Although you will need to start planning to replace Sirigu as he gets older, you are unlikely to need to spend money on this position any time soon.

 

DL/R

PSG have an embarrassment of riches in both these positions. Aurier, Der Wiel, Digne and Kurzawa are all very good players and should be solid players for a number of years. Aurier and Kurzawa in particular usually develop into outstanding players. Again you will need to consider how you wish to replace Der Wiel as he gets older but I would recommend not spending any money on this position in Season 1. If you really want to, then Passlack is worth considering as a future replacement for Der Wiel. He wont set you back too much (around 5million in Season 1) but invariably turns out to be a world beater.

 

DC

PSG have 3 world class defenders who any team would be envious of (at least in game). However your best defender Silva is 30 and you have absolutely no backup at all if any of them gets injured. Of all the positions, this is the one you most need to spend money on. As both Luiz and Marquinhos consider themselves ball playing defenders (although Luis makes a very good CD anyway), I would recommend purchasing a player who can play the role of a CD to take over from Luiz in a couple of years. Luckily since you aren’t desperate for a first team player, you can look at a youngster whom you can play off the bench. Look for someone with good aerial capability as that is lacking at the start. An option here is that you could consider selling Silva. I know it sounds counter to what I have just said about your need to buy a new defender particularly considering he is probably the best defender in the game at the start. However Silva is starting to age and so now is the time that you will get the highest sale price for him. He is likely to go for somewhere around 35-40 million and so you could consider that is worth the price of selling him. Both Luiz and Marquinhos are more than capable of shoring up your defence but if you go down this path, then I would recommend buying at least 2 defenders. As a side note, if you are interested in Laporte (possibly the best French defender in the game in my opinion), then he seems to invariably get transfer listed sometime during Season 1. So if he is on your target list then it might be worth waiting to see if he does become available as you will be able to pick him up for a much cheaper price (but still talking about 20 million as opposed to the 30+ million he will set you back if you try to prise him loose at the start of the game).

DMC

Stambouli is a more than capable defensive midfielder, rarely gets injured and will hold you in good stead for several years. However Motta is 32 and so if you plan on playing this position in your formation, then you need to consider buying backup. I quite like the young Frenchman Maxime D’Arpino for this role. He is cheap (around 5 million) but quickly grows and makes a very capable replacement for Motta as a bench player. However there are a number of other options that you could consider such as Semper, Neves, Maia and Cubas (to name a few)

MC

Both Veratti and Matuidi are fine players, offer you versatility in terms of the roles they can play and don’t need replacing. However you lack depth in this position with Rabiot not really ready to be anything more than a bench player. If you wish to play a 2 man midfield (as well as a DMC) then you definitely need to consider buying a bench player as backup but you might want to think carefully before going down that path due to your limitations with funds.

Attacking Midfield

You have a number of world class players who can play in a variety of positions across the attacking midfield line. Di Maria, Moura and Pastore will dominate this area and so you should not need to consider buying any first team players for these positions. However your main backup is Lavezzi, who whilst good is 30 years old and his contract expires at season’s end. So you will need to consider whether you offer him a new contract (he will sign for the same wages for another 3 years) and how many AMs you will need. Augustin holds promise of becoming a solid player but is not ready for the firsts so you should consider loaning him out. The remaining youngsters usually turn out to be quite average and so I normally sell them. At a minimum even if you keep Lavezzi, I would recommend buying at least one youngster as backup.

Bamba is a very promising young cheap (5million) French winger who can play both sides and would be worth checking out. Maxime Lopez is another promising French AM who can be got cheaply at the start and will challenge for a starting position in a few years time. However you might wish to consider splurging on players such as Coman (who can play anywhere across the front 2 lines) or Correa. They will set you back around 25 million each but will compete for starting positions straight away.

Attackers

On first glance this position looks like you are fine. In Cavani and Ibra, you have 2 of the best strikers in the game and they will score goals for fun. Cavani has brilliant stats and seems to very rarely get injured (in a number of my test saves, he didn’t pick up a single injury). Look to him to lead your line for at least 1 or 2 seasons. However Ibra is 33 and his wages are horrendous (13 million per year). Of all your players, he is the one I would recommend selling as fast as you can. You should be able to get around 23 million for him (plus free up a large chunk of your wage budget) which you can invest in increasing your depth. Ongenda holds promise of turning into a solid bench player but is unlikely to become more than that. I normally loan him out to get experience and boost his resale value in Season 2. Every version of Odsonne I have had has turned out to be injury prone so you might want to consider selling him, even though he too looks promising. So in the light of this, I would recommend picking up one or 2 youngsters that can initially play off the bench but replace Cavani down the track. There are a number of players who you can choose from and it really comes down to your preference.

Some cheap options:

Pavon (available for around 5 million) who is positionally very flexible and invariably has good potential.

Avdijaj, a very promising German striker who can be got fairly cheaply at the start of the game but gains green stats at a very quick rate.

Grejonh Kyei young Frenchman with potential

 

Formations

The team is naturally setup to play either 4-1-1-3-1 or 4-2-3-1. However with relatively little adjustment (and astute purchases) you could investigate other variations such as 4-1-2-2-1 or even 4-1-1-2-2. Note with their strength in the wingback position and their corresponding weakness in the centre half position, I would not recommend any formations utilising 3 centre halves.

Conclusion

PSG offer a good introduction to the game for a player just starting out. You will need to both add depth and replace various key players who are aging. So most of your purchases will generally be youngsters who can make the step up within the next year or 2. However, if you follow my suggestions in terms of selling players (eg Silva), then you should end up with a transfer budget of at least 100 million which will ease this job considerably.  As an added bonus, if you win the Champions League then you should achieve the Sugar Daddy unlockable, meaning you could conceivably unlock it by end of Season 1.

[Ashez]

Very enjoyable read mate, would have loved some images here and there to break it up but apart from that top work mate! KIU!