Last night, the reds suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain in game week 5 of the UEFA Champions League group stages, leaving them sitting in third place of Group C with a crucial tie against Napoli remaining on the final match-day.
Going into the game Liverpool sat joint top of the group needing only a win in the Parc de Princes to confirm qualification, assuming Red Star Belgrade took 0 points from their remaining two games.
However, it took only 13 minutes for Paris to take the lead through a Bernat goal, and later in the half Neymar doubled the host’s lead. Before the break, through a piece of individual from Sadio Mane, Liverpool won a penalty and were thrown a lifeline as James Milner confidently sent the keeper the wrong way and slotted it in the goal.
In the second half, the theatrics came out from the Paris players and despite Liverpool showing a slight improvement, the damage had already been done and they couldn’t find a way back into the game. All too similar to the Belgrade game.
The result now means Liverpool have lost their last 5 away Champions league games, and in this year’s competition they have only scored one goal, yesterday’s penalty. Embarrassing form that has left them with a tough challenge to face on the final day, or consequently face the dreaded Thursday night football.
So why did it all go wrong?
A collection of things really: A first half disaster class from the midfield trio, not being creative or clinical enough in the final third, appalling refereeing decisions, possibly the wrong team selection and cunning game management from the Paris players, aka time wasting and rolling around on the pitch.
The midfield
Going into the game, several twitter managers called out the team selection as wrong, particularly taking issue with the midfield claiming there wouldn’t be enough creativity. And quickly they were proved correct.
In the first half, defensively, they couldn’t get near the PSG players. Simply, outclassed. Verratti was picking up the ball, dribbling past them and driving forward and directing the Paris attack. Neymar and Mbappe had their bag full of tricks as well and were back-heeling the ball to each other like it was FIFA Street. Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner suffered a rough time trying to get near them. In the first half PSG pressed them high and Wijnaldum giving away 2 free kicks in 2 minutes was an example of that effective tactic.
It felt similar to the final in Kiev where after the opening stages we lost all control of the game. The same midfield trio were surpassed by the Madrid midfield in a similar way to PSG’s yesterday. Of course, ultimately in that game they aren’t completely at fault for the goals, but at the same time they don’t cover significant protection for the defence or, when in possession, be daring going forward.
In possession in the first half they weren’t brave on the ball. They were either pressed high and conceded mistakes or passing sideways and backwards. Okay, the second tactic doesn’t lose you the ball but for the opening 35 minutes our forwards were receiving no support from the midfield. Ian Wright on Match of the Day dissected the midfields passing flaws after our 3-0 win over Watford on the weekend, he pointed out Wijnaldum and Henderson opted to play the safer sideways passes rather than risky forward balls when they’re on, and for the first half in Paris this felt the same. It’s still unclear whether that is down to system and tactics from the manager or if that is down to the player’s decision making, it’s probably both, and the result last night suffered because of it.
Overall the midfield wasn’t getting in good offensive positions. Even when Henderson’s role is to sit, the two either side of him weren’t pushing forward but rather staying deep, picking up the ball from one of the defenders then keeping it around there rather than getting their heads up, turning and moving forward.
Team selection?
Jurgen’s reds set up in a 4-3-3 formation with Alisson in goal, Gomez at right-back, Lovren & van Dijk centre-backs, Robertson left-back. A midfield of Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner. And the front 3 of Salah, Mane and Firmino. It was predicted Henderson would start as he picked up the suspension for this weekend’s derby, Lovren for Trent and Milner for Shaqiri were the two changes. Once we went 2-0 down I think the changes needed to be made soonerthan they were, I would have liked to see Keita introduced at half-time. As mentioned earlier, Verratti was breezing past our midfielders and it would have been good to have a player with that same offensive nature and Milner and Wijnaldum just couldn’t be that player. After the break, we did see a slight improvement from Gini and James, they were getting into more offensive positions but in the final third we now weren’t clinical or creating any big chances. Keita came on in the 66th minute and didn’t have a lot to work with at this stage as the PSG theatrics begun but what he was able to do was clearly a positive.
Naby Keita completed more dribbles, in the lazy 20 minutes of the game, than Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum managed all game. As for the lack of quality in the final third and lack of chance creation that isn’t all down to the midfield, the front 3 have to take some of the blame. The goal we do get comes from a piece of individual brilliance from Mane to win the penalty but apart from that it was a disappointing performance from the attack. It seems as though Salah suffers on the right wing unless Firmino is playing well and making the correct runs. Of course, I wouldn’t have suggested drop any of the front 3 before the game but I would have potentially liked to see Shaqiri involved sooner. An injection of something new and positive. If we had played the 4-2-3-1 system that could have involved Shaqiri. Finally, Trent was dropped from the starting XI. There’s no doubt he would have provided more offensive options down the right-hand side for Liverpool but at the same time we’ve seen Trent struggle defensively in some big away trips. I don’t think Gomez played particularly bad however its clear his pace and improving reading of the game makes him a much more effective centre back. Even though you could argue he falls asleep for their first goal I think as a team the situation could have been avoidable beforehand. The common theme with all these substitutions is that no matter what the damage was already done in the first half. The moment we conceded the second it was always going to be an incredibly difficult uphill struggle.
The Referee
A quite ridiculous game from the Polish official. It’s disappointing when you take part in the highest level of football and the referees are not up to the same standard. You can’t completely blame him for the loss but what a poor performance from him. How Verratti was not sent off in the game I will never understand. The endless fouls after fouls and not to mention the initial tackle on Joe Gomez in the 24th minute that should’ve seen straight red. A disgustingly outrageous tackle. And at 1-0, a red card for arguably their best player on the pitch at the time would have been game changing.
Marciniak was also reluctant to award the blatant penalty for Liverpool as well, a clear foul which he did not give initially - but this was later corrected. In the last 5 minutes the Szymon Marciniak lost any remaining control he did have and was handing out bookings for everyone. PSG’s diving and play acting didn’t help much A moment that stuck out for me, big Thiago Silva lost out on ball on the edge of the pitch, so he flung himself to the floor… and then complained he hurt his head. He was off the pitch and caused it on himself. Or the moment Neymar took a shot, the ball didn’t go out but the back of his leg clipped Salah and so he went down and was awarded the free kick on the edge of the box. A crazy night of theatrics, under the watchful eye of Leo DiCaprio, that in the end paid off for PSG, maybe Liverpool showed a little European naivety, and it won’t get much better when we face Napoli.
Alisson Becker
I thought Alisson Becker deserved a special mention, a world class performance from the Brazilian number 1 which ultimately saved us from an embarrassment. Pulled off some huge saves at 0-0 and even when PSG threatened to run riot he was calm and collected and did a top job between the sticks.
Style
Liverpool have definitely changed their style of play this season to be more defensively secure. I mentioned this in a twitter thread, we play a style that suits league football because its controlled and not as high an intensity as some of the previous football we’ve played under Klopp. Clearly it has worked as we’re unbeaten in the Premier league so far and have only conceded 5 goals. And since in theory it shouldn’t be as demanding it should be more sustainable over 38 games. Last season we ran riot in the Champions League and were scoring goals for fun ending the competition with all Mane, Salah and Firmino on 10 goals each. This season we have scored one goal away from home, a penalty. I think the key will be mastering the two styles for both competitions. Playing controlled game in the league and against Napoli at home bring back the Liverpool of last season and go high intensity for the opening stages of the game and blitz them. There is a doubt on if we have the squad to play both styles but why not? These are the same players who got us to the Champions League final.
The final showdown
And so, where does that leave Liverpool? One final game, against Ancelotti’s Napoli, at Anfield, under the lights, atmosphere rocking and needing to win 1-0 or by a 2-goal margin as a result of Belgrade’s late goal last night in their game.
We know what needs to be done, we can make the stadium electric and I still believe we can get the job done. It won’t be an easy task, but it’s achievable.
On to the derby now, we go again! YNWA
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