To complicate matters, the French champions' second consecutive title defence is continuing to stall after the capital club were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday.
After six matches in le Championnat, PSG have just two victories and four draws to their name. One point away at AFC Ajax in their opening UEFA Champions League encounter means that les Parisiens are still unbeaten, but that has not stopped talk of a "malaise" from developing into a fully blown "crisis" in the eyes of the French media over the past week.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc is already under pressure because of lacklustre performances on the pitch and a reported inability to earn -- not to mention maintain -- his squad's respect. That very notion is something that Sunday's draw against Lyon proved le President needs to tone down, at least until the team are out of their current slump.
Blanc appears to have too much respect for certain members of his squad at present. Take his decision to substitute Edinson Cavani after 72 minutes at the Parc des Princes on Sunday night as an example.
The Uruguayan has been in improving form over the past few weeks -- with three goals in his past four games in all competitions -- and was PSG's best player in Amsterdam as well as in the Lyon clash. Yet Blanc opted to haul his No. 9 off before the off-colour and practically invisible Ibrahimovic and they went on to concede a late leveler.
The Frenchman's dilemma has been made a little more straightforward ahead of the Caen encounter; the Swede has been ruled out of the clash with an injury to his left heel.
However, there are still other under-performing elements in his squad and Blanc must stop fearing reprisals for simply asserting his authority over his players. As PSG coach, the 48-year-old must be prepared to make all necessary changes in order to restore the team to the same level of performance as last season.
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If that involves withdrawing Ibrahimovic during a poor display, then so be it. Leaving the towering Swede out of the starting XI altogether would require something close to hell freezing over, but substituting him should not be a reason to criticise Blanc. If anything, he should be applauded.
It was clear on Sunday with 18 minutes left that Ibrahimovic was not going to lead a late search for more goals. Replacing him instead of the in-form Cavani was the more logical choice and could have led to a second PSG goal on the night.
Following his strike partner's untimely injury, el Matador is once again afforded the chance to prove why he deserves to be handed an opportunity to play through the middle and alongside Ibrahimovic. It is something that would require Blanc to move away from the 4-3-3 formation that suits the latter at present, but Cavani has not done enough with his past chances to prove that he merits such a significant step being taken.
Blanc will also be spared another headache in Lower Normandy. Thiago Motta is another under-performing player who needs to be told a few ugly truths. Since the start of the season, the Italian has been well below last season's stellar form and inexplicably plays as if he has aged by a couple of years. In this current form, the Azzurri star is far from the indispensable figure he was last term.
Marco Verratti's suspension against Caen will spare Blanc the need to be ruthless in his midfield selections, but he needs to be prepared to make such a daunting call at some point in the near future.
There are a number of reasons for PSG's current malaise; possible off-field issues and the relatively poor condition of players involved in deep FIFA World Cup runs are just two of them. However, the fact that so many elements of Blanc's team are seemingly untouchable is arguably a bigger contributing factor than both of those.
PSG are lacking intensity at present. When you watch them play -- certainly in their last three games in all competitions -- they make a relatively bright start to the match and then take their foot off the gas after taking the lead. Part of the reason for these complacent displays is that certain players do not feel challenged; they are not playing for their place in the team because they know that it is not under threat.
Blanc needs to change this and prove to all of PSG's stars that nobody -- at least with the team in its current form -- can consider themselves indispensable. Perhaps the need to produce a performance without the inspiration of Ibrahimovic is exactly the sort of wake-up call they have needed in recent weeks.
