Liverpool produced a fresh formation in a bid to combat PSG on Wednesday night, which surprised Luis Enrique, but it didn't stop his side securing a dominant win
Luis Enrique and PSG faced a new look Liverpool system, but still secured a comfortable victory
Luis Enrique and PSG faced a new look Liverpool system, but still secured a comfortable victory
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Luis Enrique admits he was "surprised" to see Liverpool line-up with a back five having never seen Arne Slot go with that formation this season.
The Reds rolled the dice in a bid to combat PSG's threats on Wednesday night, but were ultimately undone in Paris. They were outclassed and were arguably lucky to only lose 2-0 given the dominance of the French champions.
Slot named Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez in his backline with Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong making it a back five out of possession. It didn't stop the European champions dominating the evening as they scored in either half.
Enrique is eyeing a third Champions League title as a manager and knows that opposition are always prone to a new innovation against them, so was not put off by Liverpool's experiment, which did little to halt the Paris juggernaut.
The Spanish boss told Canal Plus: "It’s a surprise because it’s the first time Arne Slot has played with three at the back this year. It showed that they’re changing and trying something new, which is normal. We’re used to opponents adapting to us, so no worries. We’ll be looking to win the second game."
Enrique went on to tell TNT Sports: "I know Arne Slot is a great coach, it’s the first time they play with five at the back. But we are used to seeing other teams change formation to play against us, it’s normal.
"I think they played a great match, they are a physical team, very strong, have individual, quality players and it was a very nice match. It’s always a pleasure playing against Arne Slot and his teams because they try to play football in an offensive play and it was nice to watch."
Liverpool had hoped to try and contain the likes of Achraf Hakimi with their formation tweak
Liverpool had hoped to try and contain the likes of Achraf Hakimi with their formation tweak
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Slot himself is a man under pressure with the Champions League presenting the club's last chance for silverware this term. They were always up against it given PSG's form and will now have to try and overturn a two-goal deficit back at Anfield next week.
The Liverpool boss admitted that his thought process centre around trying to contain PSG duo Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, who have long been huge threats out on the wings.
He said: "They have pace from everywhere all over the pitch, so it doesn’t matter where you look, you see pace, incredible pace, Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are an unbelievable offensive threat, apart from all the others, so we played with Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, that was the thought behind it."
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