Arne Slot commits ‘sackable offence’ vs PSG as Liverpool an ‘absolute disgrace’ | OneFootball

Arne Slot has been destroyed for his “shameful” tactics as Liverpool were “waiting to get beaten” by Paris Saint-Germain in an “absolute disgrace” of a performance from the reigning Premier League champions.

Slot’s side were put to the sword by Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday as goals from Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia secured a 2-0 win for the Ligue 1 giants which flattered Liverpool on a night in which they were completely outplayed by the hosts.

Liverpool fielded a back five for the first time in a Champions League or Premier League game since December 2017 and Jamie Carragher launched an impassioned defence of Virgil van Dijk, who he claims has never looked “so uncomfortable” before ripping into Florian Wirtz and two of his teammates.

Jason Cundy and Jamie O’Hara couldn’t believe the “shameful” display they had witnessed, describing the “absolute disgrace” of a performance as a “sackable offence” from Slot.

Cundy said on talkSPORT: “That was shameful, shameful football. Waiting to get beaten, that was absolutely pathetic.

“If I were a Liverpool fan watching that, right – they are European royalty. That was an absolute disgrace. I cannot believe what I’ve seen… if was a Liverpool fan, I’d be embarrassed of that.

“We [Chelsea] got turned over beautifully by them,” Cundy continued, referencing his old side’s 8-2 aggregate defeat to PSG last month.

“They are a brilliant side, but at least we put in some sort of fight in that first game. That was shameful…

“And somehow, Liverpool have got out. They’re still alive. They should be dead and buried, and they’re not.”

“If I were Luis Enrique, I’d be furious. Slot’s lucky. If I’m Slot, I’m going home thinking, ‘wow, how have we got out of that one?'”

After saying Slot playing five at the back was a “sackable offence”, O’Hara continued: “It’s embarrassing.

“You turn up and play five at the back, trying to nick a draw against PSG,” O’Hara added. “You go 1-0 down.

“You go, ‘You know what, half-time, let’s go back. Let’s go after these. Let’s try and have a go…’ he’s just waiting to get beat.

“You know what, you’re right in a way, Jason. He kind of gets lucky.”

Attempting to explain his thinking behind the formation, Slot said: “They have pace everywhere all over the pitch. Incredible pace – Hakimi and Nuno Mendes have offensive threat… We played them with Jeremie Frimpong and with Milos Kerkez, that was the thought behind it.

“I thought we could try and press them really high and aggressive… every time we tried to press them high and aggressive, those were the moments we got ripped apart.

“It tells you how difficult it is to play this team. If you bring Joe [Gomez], you bring set-piece threat in.

“If you’re reflecting on the whole game we’re lucky we only lost the game 2-0. They had more chances than the goals they scored, although the first goal felt hard because we hadn’t given anything away and the deflected shot goes in.

“But after they had enough chances to score more. I think it’s very good for us that we stayed in the tie.

“We can now bring them to Anfield and we all know how much of a difference Anfield can make for us.”

On whether the formation was a one off, Slot added: “There seems to be a lot of focus on the system, but what is the difference if I would have played, for example, Rio [Ngumoha] or Cody Gakpo as a winger because Milos [Kerkez] had to play almost as a left winger facing Hakimi.

“Then there were four defenders left… if I could also explain it is a 4-3-3 with Florian [Wirtz] on the right, Hugo [Ekitike] in the middle, and Milos off the left. But because they are defensively minded, people see as a five… I would describe it as well.

“Just think about it, what if we played with real wingers today, what would that have looked like against Hakimi and Nuno Mendes?”