Liverpool set up like they wanted to try to nurse a nil-nil across ninety minutes and take a scoreless tie back to Anfield for the second leg. In the end, though, the Reds were lucky not to lose by four or five goals. They set up ultra defensively, created basically nothing, got bailed out by the Video Assistant Referee twice, and are still somehow in a tie that based on how the game played out they really shouldn’t be. Let’s dig into it…
Talking Tactics
It’s never a formation change. No matter how many times the
fans see an unusual or unexpected name in the teamsheet ahead of the match and desperately want to spin it into a formation change, it’s never a formation change. Right up until it is, at least.
That’s what happened here as five defenders were listed in the lineup for Liverpool. The safe money seemed to be on Joe Gomez playing as a fairly conservative right back while Jeremie Frimpong pushed up and played as an out and out right winger. Both, after all, have filled those roles often enough. That wouldn’t have been unusual.
Instead, it was Fimpong at right back while Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, and Gomez lined up next to him as centre halves and Milos Kerkez slotted in at left back. The quintet took on an ultra-defensive stance early, five flat across the back while four midfielders set up in a narrow box ahead of them.
The idea very much seemed to be to give the wings to PSG, sit deep, and at least soak up any early road pressure before perhaps opening up a little—or to maybe just try to nurse a nil-nil across ninety minutes and take the tie back to Anfield still scoreless where hopefully the crowd would be in a decent mood despite how badly things have gone this season and push them on to a hard-fought victory.
In short, it was a defensive stance not seen from the Reds in Europe perhaps since the Rafa Benitez era. A little more recently one might point to last season’s uber-defensive set up away at Manchester City in the league. It took 11 minutes for Désiré Doué to score PSG’s opener on a deflected effort.
Giving Credit to VAR
When one time rumoured Liverpool target and man with a nigh on impossible name to pronounce Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored PSG’s second just past the hour mark, it felt like the flood gates opening. Liverpool had done a decent job blunting their opponents but had created less than nothing of their own and, having been put under near constant pressure, the only question seemed to be when their legs went and they cracked.
A pair of fortunate Video Assistant Referee decisions along with a solid handful of missed chances, though, kept the scoreline within reach. The first came as PSG sliced through into the box and Ibrahima Konaté took the long way around trying to get to the ball. When he reached it, the final moments of the tackle were shockingly clean and regardless Konaté was hard to fault for the chance. Yet he did make contact with the attacker’s plant leg—and impeded his forward progress—on the way to the tackle’s final moments. And the referee called it a penalty on the pitch.
It was the sort of moment where if you can quint you could make a reasonable case for penalty or no penalty. Which is the sort of thing which doesn’t tend to get overturned. Here, though, it did. Then as stoppage time neared, Konaté again was at the scene of the crime—this time with a shove in the box it was frankly very easy to fault him for. This time, the ref didn’t call a penalty. And VAR didn’t intervene. Lucky, lucky Liverpool.
Dissecting the Narrative
Things are bad because Liverpool played badly. They didn’t have a single shot in the first half and managed just three all game with none on target. They ended the game with 26% possession. They completed around a third of the passes their opponents did. And they did all this while coming out on the wrong side of the duels and tackles numbers. They were cagey, they were passive. They played for a nil-nil and were lucky to lose 2-0.
Yet they’re still only down 2-0. And the second leg is at Anfield. Probably nobody on the outside really believes that this side, this season, has it in them to turn it around. And it will take some doing to get Anfield in a fighting mood given everything (and even if they are there’s no guarantee the players will do their part and play with any real passion or intensity). But they’re only 2-0. So there’s still a chance.
In a way, that feels like the perfect encapsulation for this season. The weeks keep passing and the mediocre performances and results keep piling up but there’s always just enough there, just barely, that if you squint you can see it all turning around next match. Somehow. Until it doesn’t. But in a way you can convince yourself that there’s just enough there, just barely…
What Happens Next
Liverpool play Fulham on the weekend in the Premier League. It’s at Anfield. Anything less than a win and three points will have the knives out for head coach Arne Slot and this under-performing group. Then, if they manage not to have Anfield booing by that final whistle, it’s PSG at Anfield for leg two.
