Liverpool’s approach in Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain took many by surprise – as Arne Slot went back on his word about how football should be.
Slot took his battered and bruised Liverpool squad to Paris with a firm game plan in mind. It was a very in-case-of-emergency-break-glass type affair, with the Reds setting up with an entirely untested back five formation and marking man-to-man. It badly failed.
Sure, Liverpool have a glimmer of hope in the second leg of this Champions League quarter-final. Trailing against anyone 2-0 under the lights at Anfield does not signal the end for Liverpool, as Barcelona well found out back in May 2019.
But this is a very different football team. The mindset right now could not be more the antithesis of Jurgen Klopp‘s famed mentality monsters.
Mentality Monsters? This was Liverpool in ‘survival mode’
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, April 8, 2026: Liverpool's players line-up for a team group photograph before during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. Back row (L-R): goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konaté, Hugo Ekitike, captain Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch. Front row (L-R): Jeremie Frimpong, Alexis Mac Allister, Milos Kerkez, Florian Wirtz and Dominik Szoboszlai (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
What was clear from the outset was Slot’s preference of damage limitation in the French capital. Go with the plan of suffocating PSG in their own backyard, before having a do-or-die contest at Anfield and letting the Kop work its magic.
But Liverpool weren’t good enough. Outfought and outthought. What we ended up seeing was the manager actually going back completely on his own words from earlier in the season.
Back in November, Slot told reporters the following: “Is the question: ‘Should I change dramatically?’. I don’t know what is in your head but if, for example, you want another system with five defenders that could be an issue.
“The system we are playing now suits the players best. They have played this system probably throughout their whole career, and there is hardly any training time for us.
PSG
2 – 0
LIVERPOOL
Possession
74%26%
Expected Goals (xG)
2.350.17
Total Shots
183
Shots on Target
60
Big Chances
40
Accurate Passes
685 (92%)190 (75%)
Fouls Committed
812
Corners
31
Data via FotMob
“So it is almost impossible to change our complete idea about football if we play every two days.”
And yet in the biggest game remaining in Liverpool’s limp season, the team reverted to a setup with three central defenders of Virgil van Dijk flanked by Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez, with Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong as wing-backs.
Liverpool marked aggressively, man-to-man, and were pulled all over the place as a result. The sight of Konate constantly on the halfway line, mulling over whether to drop deeper still, was enough to set off the ripples of fear. As the defence got more and more drawn and Van Dijk increasingly more isolated in the middle as a result, the inevitable gaps appeared.
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, April 8, 2026: Liverpool's captain Virgil van Dijk looks dejected after conceding the first goal during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It was a matter of time before PSG started amassing a score. Liverpool were unfortunate with the sharp and pivotal deflection on Desire Doue’s opener, but they very well could have boarded a flight home from Paris trailing by four.
There comes with this result a powerful sense of foreboding for Slot. He must have thought as much as soon as the draw was made. Facing PSG doesn’t just represent a badly out-of-sorts Liverpool going up against the reigning champions, it pits Slot against the team he was so proud of facing last season.
How ‘PSG obsessed’ Slot went back on his word
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, March 5, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot before the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 1st Leg game between Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
After going out on penalties following an action-packed affair at Anfield, Slot has regularly reached for the PSG card and become somewhat obsessed with Luis Enrique’s side since. As analysed previously, Slot’s recollection of the two legs last season are somewhat rose-tinted, though irrespective of this Liverpool were a much more formidable outfit back then.
Now Slot has once more gone up against PSG, the team he rejoices for sharing such a beautiful match of pure football with the Reds last year, and all but shirked the occasion entirely.
On Wednesday night Liverpool became everything they stood against. Cautious, afraid, boring and determined to force a stalemate. Slot’s side registered no shots on target and had their lowest creation xG rate all season of a miserly 0.17. To take just a 26 percent slice of possession is also criminal.
A month ago, with pressure then still mounting on Merseyside, Slot was cornered by reporters regarding his style and the steadfast determination to stick to the plan, despite repeatedly falling short against the low blocks.
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Slot responded: “If I watch other leagues I don’t think there’s so much emphasis on set-pieces.
“Do I like it? My football heart doesn’t like it.
“If you ask me to think about football I think about 10, 15 years ago, about the Barcelona team, every Sunday evening you were hoping that they would play. Now most of the games I see in the Premier League are not a joy to watch for me.”
After seeing how the PSG performance unfolded, what we can now confidently conclude is we are in desperation territory. Low blocks and long throws aplenty, with an obvious focus on aerial set-pieces finding Van Dijk for the flick on. Everything that Liverpool are unaccustomed to, while playing with a back five setup. It was never going to work.
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, April 8, 2026: Liverpool's Alexander Isak receives final instructions for head coach Arne Slot before coming on for his first appearance since January during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
A late arrival of an army of substitutions only served to heap more confusion. With Mo Salah overlooked, Liverpool were clearly playing to hold on. In his post-match press conference Slot offered the explanation that “25 minutes of defending” would not have suited Salah, yet still introduced Alexander Isak for his first outing since breaking his leg.
The Swedish hitman is hardly known for his heavy pressing or constant back-tracking, while Liverpool’s most creative outlet – Florian Wirtz – happened to be withdrawn at the same time.
The £110 million signing had a frustratingly anonymous game, though one would think that leaving him on in hope of a last-gasp assist for Isak would make the most sense. Slot disagreed.
What can Liverpool really do next?
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, April 8, 2026: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It’s hard to guess what Liverpool can even do next. If they play this same way against Enrique’s men at Anfield, they’ll lose. The Kop can spur them on as much as is physically possible, but a poorly applied if not broken system just cannot yield results.
Liverpool pulled off their mission impossible against Barcelona with injuries galore. A comical amount of key absentees, no Salah, no Roberto Firmino. But the improbable became very much probable because of a working system which knew exactly how to terrorise an opponent, regardless of inferior personnel.
That team had the dogged midfield work-rate of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho. The relentless attacking quality of Sadio Mane, the creativity of Xherdan Shaqiri and the unpredictability of Divock Origi. Liverpool became a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, May 7, 2019: Liverpool players celebrate after the UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg match between Liverpool FC and FC Barcelona at Anfield. Liverpool won 4-0 (4-3 on aggregate). Mohamed Salah, manager Jürgen Klopp, Virgil van Dijk, James Milner. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
It had belief because it knew what to do. Victory was unlikely but that group of lads were going to give their every last breath in trying.
The current crop don’t know where to begin. It’s been the story of the season and, with just five days to figure it out while also playing Fulham in between, this feels like a final ask far too big for Slot.
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