#INSERT type:image caption:Laurent Blanc and Jose Mourinho both have had big impacts this season. END#
The most recent summer transfer window was an exciting time, with a flurry of player movement across the top clubs in Europe. However, an underlying story going into this European season was the number of managers who were joining new clubs, particularly clubs that finished with very good performances in 2012-13.
Two clubs that provide an example of this shift are Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho rejoined the club after a tumultuous campaign that saw the defending 2011-12 European champions bounced from the group stage of the Champions League, and scrape their way to a third-place finish in the 2012-13 Premier League.
Meanwhile, PSG manager Laurent Blanc took over for Carlo Ancelotti, who in a coincidence left the French club to take over Mourinho’s Real Madrid team. Blanc did not come highly endorsed after spearheading an underachieving quarterfinal appearance with France in Euro 2012, and was tasked with retaining the Ligue 1 title this season and advancing past the Champions League quarterfinals.
With both men preparing for the return leg of their Champions League quarterfinal matchup, who has had the bigger impact on his team this season?
Blanc’s impact at PSG
Part of PSG’s recipe for success this season has been playing a 4-3-3 formation, as opposed to the 4-4-2 that Ancelotti deployed last season. This approach has provided Blanc with more flexibility in the three midfield positions, and he has chosen to play with three defensive players who can stabilize the team’s midfield and break up opposing attacks.
The midfield trio of Blaise Matuidi, Thiago Motta and Marco Verratti are combining for more than 35 percent of the team’s tackles this season, and as a result opponents have gone from creating 2.7 chances per game from the middle third of the field in 2012-13 to 1.4 in the current campaign. The midfield presence of these three players has also forced Ligue 1 opponents into 20 percent fewer attacking-third touches against PSG than last season, and this ultimately has led to PSG conceding just 6.5 shots per game in domestic competition (lowest rate in Europe’s top five leagues).