Paris Saint-Germain’s 0-0 draw with Montpellier HSC on Saturday meant that the French champions ultimately finish 2014 in third place in the Ligue 1 table after Olympique de Marseille beat Lille OSC 2-1 and Olympique Lyonnais thumped Girondins de Bordeaux 5-0.

The capital club have endured a frustrating first half of the season and can consider themselves fortunate to only be three points behind Marcelo Bielsa’s men and one behind Hubert Fournier’s charges in truth.

PSG coach Laurent Blanc has plenty to consider over the winter break, while Les Parisiens are in Morocco to play Inter Milan in a questionably timed friendly. Le President cannot afford for his men to come out of traps slowly at the start of 2015 as a third consecutive title would then really start to slip from their reach.

As it is right now, it should serve as a wake-up call to the players. They need to show Ligue 1 more respect on a weekly basis and this is one of the off-the-field issues Blanc must tackle before January 10.

However, there are two other major headaches also in need of Blanc’s attention.

First of all, is the alarming decline of Thiago Motta since the start of the season. The Italian has been PSG’s weakest link for the majority of the first half of the campaign and it has stretched on for too long to be considered just a minor blip.

Motta appears to have aged by one or two years between this term and last. The Azzurri man is a noticeably weaker force in the middle of the park and the team are suffering from this because of his importance to PSG’s possession-based game and the fact that he now makes the midfield three far more static.

The second issue is the defence. Up until recently, summer signing David Luiz and Thiago Silva had fared well and looked relatively solid at the back. A 3-1 defeat away at Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League and a 1-0 loss at EA Guingamp in Ligue 1 exposed the pair’s limitations though and now the back line looks a shadow of its authoritative former self.

PSG have conceded the same number of goals this season as they had at this point last campaign, but the team are six points and 12 goals worse off. Eight clean sheets from 19 games so far this term compared with nine last illustrates a slightly weaker defence, but the major difference is that the team are not as free-scoring and that places added importance on the number of clean sheets recorded.

For the start of 2015, at least, Blanc must consider tweaking the defence and midfield of his team before he starts to look at the issues in front of goal. Silva and Luiz would benefit from some time apart because of the pressure on the pair at present. The former has particularly suffered, with his recent loss of form linked to his being stripped of the Brazil captaincy and recent injury lay-off.

The French press, not to mention the wider European and world media as well, have been waiting for Luiz’s FIFA World Cup nightmare with the Selecao to come back and haunt him since he made the move to Paris.

Two shaky games against Barcelona and Guingamp have been enough to see him singled out and almost exclusively blamed for PSG’s recent lack of defensive solidity, when realistically it is as much Silva’s fault.

Both players need some time apart from one another and this could actually provide Blanc with the answer to Les Parisiens’ current midfield and defensive issues.

Luiz is not a central defender. The Frizzy-haired Brazilian may be capable of playing there, but it is certainly not his natural role. The PSG No. 32 is too adventurous and too technical to be deployed at the back, so moving him into the midfield could be the solution.

At Chelsea, Luiz was often played in defensive midfield instead of centre-back and his best performances under Jose Mourinho came in that role. Moving the 27-year-old into Motta’s deep-lying midfield berth and bringing Marquinhos into the starting XI in place of the Italian would make the two positions stronger than they are at present.

Luiz does not possess the same metronomic passing ability and vision of Motta, but he would make the midfield three far more dynamic than it is at present. Marquinhos, who was outstanding earlier this season when relied upon because of injuries to both Silva and Luiz, would also strengthen the centre of defence.

If Blanc can make these two changes by the start of 2015, then PSG will arguably start the year in better shape than they finished it. Dropping Motta may cause a rift or two because of his status as one of the club’s most influential players, but his influence has gone from being a positive one to a negative one at present.

Whatever he does on the pitch, Blanc must remove Motta from the fray. However, PSG’s problems run deeper than just two simple positional changes and work on the team’s mentality and attitude is also a must during these next two weeks.

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