Liverpool were humbled by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday night, lucky to still be in with a distant chance of turning the quarterfinal tie around in the second leg.
Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored the PSG goals to give the reigning European champions a 2–0 aggregate lead to take to Anfield next week.
In truth, it could have been more, with a slightly wasteful PSG underperforming their xG, while Liverpool created almost nothing at all.
Salah Benched, Snubbed
Not trusted for one of the biggest matches of the season? It feels like it.
Mohamed Salah’s name among the substitutes spoke volumes about how far he has fallen in the space of 12 months, from having one of the all-time great individual seasons, to being dropped against the European champions.
Salah, who missed a penalty last weekend, presumably wasn’t being saved for the Premier League clash with Fulham on Saturday—if anything, he’d be rested in that one between the PSG tests.
The Egyptian King struggled against PSG a year ago, completely locked down by left back Nuno Mendes and failing to register a goal involvement across 180 minutes of the round of 16 tie. Salah also isn’t known for his work ethic off the ball, which may explain Slot’s decision to remove him completely, rather than find a different role within the adjusted 3-4-1-2 formation.
But even when substitutions were made later in the game, there was still no sign.
If Salah returns against Fulham, don’t count on him facing PSG at Anfield.
There will be no glorious farewell, only this.
Slot’s Gamble on Formation Change Backfires
Much of the pregame chat centered on whether this could be it for Arne Slot at Liverpool.
FA Cup humiliation at the hands of Manchester City was a low moment in an already poor season for the Reds. It appears as though more and more fans are turning on the Dutchman, swiftly burning through the credit he banked with last season’s Premier League title.
Clearly feeling he had to do something different to avoid another embarrassment, Slot rolled the dice with a new system intended to mask Liverpool’s defensive weakness and blunt PSG’s offensive strength. But with the hosts scoring so early, it trapped the Dutchman, too cautious to simply revert to the more conventional 4-2-3-1 that would have left his team vulnerable to going further behind, but lacking the ability to build meaningful attacks of their own in that shape and style.
The dissenting voices calling for Slot’s head will only get louder now.
Substitutions Made Late
It wasn’t working for Liverpool, but Slot persisted with the personnel for almost 80 minutes, by which time PSG were already two goals ahead and cruising towards a semifinal place.
Eventually, a quadruple switch came, not that it did much good. It was simply too late for Cody Gakpo, Andrew Robertson, Curtis Jones and the returning Alexander Isak to get up to speed.
Isak Returns
Isak has been sidelined since before Christmas because of a fractured leg suffered while scoring in a Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur. The record signing recently returned to training and this was his first game back on the bench … and on the pitch.
After dubious tactics to force a transfer in the first place, the Swede was lacking fitness before his injury, going a long way to explaining a poor first half of the season. But he’s going to be really behind now, and it now feels unlikely fans will see anything close to Isak at his best until next season.
In 12 minutes played at Parc des Princes, he touched the ball three times, completed one pass and was dispossessed once. Much of that is to do with the context of the match itself, but it’s also clear how far Isak has yet to go.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Four Takeaways From Liverpool’s Parisian Humbling As Mohamed Salah Completely Snubbed.
