Calamity Cavani sets a new record but still costs Paris Saint-Germain against Arsenal

The striker gave the French title holders the lead after 42 seconds, but it was his wastefulness that meant the Gunners escaped a Paris battering with a point

Edinson Cavani’s time with Paris Saint-Germain was rather summed up in Tuesday’s Champions League draw with Arsenal.

The Uruguay international striker opened the scoring after only 42 seconds for the hosts, glancing in an inch-perfect delivery from Serge Aurier. The quality of the delivery was such that the former Napoli striker could barely miss, and he spent much of the rest of the match squandering chance after chance.

Even after he had rounded David Ospina in the first half, he could not find the target from 18 yards. While he was unbalanced and on his weaker left foot, the net was entirely unguarded yet he contrived to plant the ball wide of it.

This miss started a sequence of woe for the No.9 and once again served to highlight the error that the Ligue 1 champions made in allowing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to depart without finding a replacement. His €64 million signing fee, paid in 2013, is looking bigger with every passing match.

Before the first half was finished the striker wasted another fine opening with a fresh-air kick when unmarked barely 10 yards out, and after the break he managed to outdo himself by missing two opportunities when clean through on David Ospina.

Such a performance is by no means a one off for the forward this season. He was incredibly profligate against Metz in his first Ligue 1 start of the campaign, while he was also poor against Monaco in a 3-1 defeat, despite getting on the scoresheet.

Worryingly for Unai Emery and his PSG side, there are no other genuine options in that centre forward role. Hatem Ben Arfa was used during Friday’s 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1, with Cavani travelling back from international duty, but the Frenchman did not even make the squad for Arsenal, while Jese’s performances since arriving from Real Madrid have been unimpressive to say the least.

Emery has little choice but to leave the wasteful Uruguayan in the firing line. His work rate and, in particular, off-the-ball movement may be second to none in his position, but there comes a point when this is simply not enough.

Last term his defence was that Zlatan Ibrahimovic dominated the side too much and that he was not given an opportunity to play in his favoured role down the middle. He is doing his best to disprove this theory and while PSG’s chances of qualifying in Europe have not seriously been compromised, they must already be considering options in the January transfer window.

 

Laurent Blanc was sacked because he was not deemed good enough to help the club win Europe’s biggest prize, but with Cavani in such permanently wasteful form, it is impossible to see how this might be possible with him as the sole striking threat.