In this video
- Paris were by far the better team and could have scored more, he admits. What he keeps is the fighting spirit: bodies behind the ball, almost every shot met with cover, and last season's 1-0 here as proof of what Anfield can flip.
- Pace from everywhere, and Hakimi and Nuno Mendes an unbelievable threat on top of it. Frimpong and Kerkez were picked to cope and to press high, and he concedes the flip side: almost every aggressive press was where PSG ripped them apart.
“It's just a level above sprinting.”
- The last 25 minutes were about surviving, not scoring, he says. Salah has too much quality to spend that stretch defending his own box, so the energy is saved for the games stacking up, and Isak got minutes instead.
- The reporter's phrase is accepted as the perfect description: survival for large parts of the game, maybe survival in this stretch of the season too. PSG kept the tie alive by missing open chances, and it goes back to Anfield still breathing.
- The system talk gets shrugged off: Kerkez ten yards further up and it reads as the usual back four. His question back: what would real wingers have looked like against those two full-backs?
- Hope, of course: minutes after the game his phone showed Atletico winning 2-0 away at Barcelona with a red card involved. Football turns on incidents, he says, and Anfield already flipped this season once after Galatasaray.
- He asks the room a question of his own: has anyone seen a tactic in this stadium that stopped PSG having the ball and creating chance after chance? Every pattern he watched ended the same way, so the story of the game was never the system.
- Be tight on the midfielders or they dribble through you. Help inside, and the wingers get the one-on-ones they dominate against any defender in the world. Be tight on the wingers, and the deep runs come. Weapons everywhere, and still he promises a different game at Anfield.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot explained why Mohamed Salah did not feature in the defeat to PSG, revealing that the final stages of the match became more about survival than creating chances. Slot said Liverpool were forced into deep defending for long periods and felt it was better to save Salah’s energy for the crucial games still to come.
The Liverpool boss also discussed the tactical setup against PSG, the difficulty of dealing with the pace of players like Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, and why he still believes the tie is alive heading back to Anfield. Despite admitting PSG were the better side on the night, Slot praised Liverpool’s fighting spirit and insisted the atmosphere at Anfield can help produce a very different second leg.
