On Sunday evening, Paris Saint-Germain take on newly promoted FC Metz at the Parc des Princes in their first home game of the season. Last weekends 1-0 victory over SC Bastia was the perfect start, but now the spotlight will firmly be placed on Unai Emerys team.Winning isnt quite enough for the local fans, they want to be entertained. Its safe to say the bar has been significantly raised over the past four years.A quartet of consecutive Ligue 1 titles has put the Parisians at a level that they have never found before. Now nothing less than a fifth will be acceptable, showing how things have changed dramatically since the opening league game of the 2011/12 campaign.Sundays match will be the first home campaign that PSG have started without Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the squad since 2011. They also haven't lifted the league trophy without the Swedish forward in the lineup since 1994.That in itself brings a lot of pressure, but the mentality at the club has changed over four years, and the fans are sure there will be no hangover without their Scandinavian talisman.Speaking to Bleacher Report, PSG fan and reporter for the website Canal-Supporters, Quentin Polin, was excited about the post-Zlatan future.He said: "I am more confident than ever! For all the respect I have for this amazing player, Zlatan was here to give credibility to QSIs project. He was an icon. Now it is different.""We have bought players who have played in Ligue 1, they know the difficulties, they respect the French championship. They can stay focused and not play with that same show-off attitude like Zlatan. It feels like this is a real team. Not a squad with just good individuals."Quentin is not a season-ticket holder because of the high prices the club charges in this new era, but the club is always in his heart, with his father and brother owning seats in the past.Five years ago, he travelled from London to see his team open the season at the Parc des Princes against FC Lorient, but it wasnt the kick-off he and the rest of the crowd expected.It was the real beginning of the Qatar Investment Authority (QSI) era but before PSG really broke the bank.Salvatore Sirigu started in goal, joining from Palermo. Before the game, his former team-mate, the 42 million club record signing Javier Pastore, was introduced to the crowd. But that would be the last moment to cheer that evening.A 28th-minute goal from Les Merlus forward, Julien Quercia, set up by Yann Jouffre, shocked the home crowd. Led by Bruno Ecuele Manga and former PSG defender, Gregory Bourillon, Lorient managed to hold on and recorded an amazing 1-0 victory in the French capital."This was the beginning of something new," Quentin continued. "Big teams looked at us smiling. Now they are afraid, nobody wants to play against us."Only Blaise Matuidi remains in the team from the XI who took the field that evening. Lorient were somewhat of a bogey team for the Parisians, one of the few teams to enjoy a very good recorduntil recentlyagainst PSG.It was definitely a team in transition. There was some quality in the XI but few names who would get anywhere near the squad now. Brazilian forward Nene had the kind of ability that Emery would be looking for now, and Kevin Gameiro has gone on to achieve great things in Spain.However, it seems bizarre to think the likes of Milan Bisevac, Siaka Tiene and Guillaume Hoarau all commanded a place in Antoine Kombouare's side in a team that would be pipped to the title by Montpellier.Some 12 months later, Lorient would again start their campaign in the capital, but even though they went 2-0 up, holding that curse over the home side, this time they were met by the desire and inspiration of Ibrahimovic.He scored twice to save a 2-2 draw for the home team. That is always deemed as the beginning of the QSI era, but the signs were there in 2011.Since that fixture, PSG have only lost five times at home in the league. That's over a spell of 94 games and is an astonishing record.There were some similarities to today's team, Quentin told Bleacher Report: "We played our style. We kept the ball, we made the other teams run, to make them breathless."Now its much different because the quality of the players is far better. Back then, we had just one plan. Now, with Unai Emery, it looks like we can change tactically during the games. We can adapt to how other teams setup."There is no doubt that PSG will at times miss the influence that Ibrahimovic had over this team.Whenever things werent going their way, or the team was struggling to break down opponents, quite often Zlatan would take over the game and make sure the result fell their way.Now hes gone, the team needs to move on, but that doesnt mean they go back to the position they found themselves in five years ago.The attitude has changed. As Quentin said, Zlatan initiated the transition. The mentality has changed from a team that wants to be great; now they expect it."Zlatan has greatly moved the club," Blanc told the media ahead of the Swedes final game at the Parc des Princes against Nantes, via Goal.com. "Now, we have to think about the future."There have been talks. Personally, I am sad because we lost our best player, but sad in the sense that this time had to come. At the same time, I'm hopefulfor him first. And I think the club have to start on something else."On Sunday night, PSG will line up against Metz with a star-studded team. They still wont be back to 100 percent, but across the board, it will engulf all of the ability that the 2011 team had.Five years ago, the team was good. Players like Jeremy Menez, Mamadou Sakho and Matuidi were all French internationals.Mevlut Erding, Mathieu Bodmer and Clement Chantome will all leave a legacy in the French game, but after that defeat to Lorient, more was expected.That ushered in a plan, one that included the arrivals of Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani. At the end of last season, there was a definite feeling that time was brought to a close on PSG version 1.0.Under Emery, the new-look team takes its place and looks set to enjoy a very good domestic campaign.No longer do teams like Lorient feel like they are able to go to the Parc des Princes and have a go. The team of 2011 was more flash than substance. The flashy elements are still there; the home crowd expects nothing less.However, with players like Matuidi leading the way, Marco Verratti evolving and Grzegorz Krychowiak about to push the quality of the midfield to another level, PSG are in a much stronger position, both on and off the pitch, than they were in 2011.Its obvious to say that with the bottomless pits of money that the club has to spend, this should have been a given, but it takes more than that to change attitudes and expectations.
Click here to read full news..
