Arne Slot’s tactical masterstroke proved decisive against PSG – but not how you think | OneFootball

Écraser et attraper, as those at the Parc des Princes might say. What else can you say, after a victory that defied a lot of logic - but not all logic? Liverpool fc got away with one, and they have to now think this stunning 1-0 away to Paris Saint-Germain gets them halfway into the quarter-final. A young Paris Saint-Germain will now only feel regret, after what must have been one of the great unfulfilled Champions League performances. It should have been one of the great performances, full-stop. That might instead be said of Alisson Becker, who did so much more than set the stage for impact substitute Harvey Elliott’s 87th-minute winner, or keep Liverpool in the game.

He kept them from getting hammered. "If we got a draw, we would have been lucky," Arne Slot acknowledged. Luis Enrique lamented how "football is often a game of injustices". "We were very superior", he emphasised. If Liverpool were hugely unfortunate to have to face Paris Saint-Germain having finished first in the group stage, there was instant karma. They were just as fortunate not to be out of the tie by the half-hour mark.

PSG were worth so much more than this 0-1, and looked far greater value than the expensive and indulged side that have characterised this Qatari sportswashing project in the past. It was striking how their attack made a recently revitalised Liverpool look so utterly pedestrian. The final scoreline doesn’t change that. You could see why Arne Slot already had designs on changing his entire forward line in the summer. The Premier League’s top scorers - by a massive 13 goals - couldn’t match PSG’s fire. At least for sparkle and a sense of energy.

But not for goals.

The crucial fact is that Liverpool scored and PSG didn’t, although that was more down to Alisson’s brilliance and blind luck rather than anything else. It genuinely could have been 4-0 by then. Liverpool had two major decisions go their way, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s heel offside for his finish and Ibrahima Konate’s challenge not deemed worthy of a red card, amid a flurry of huge chances.

And yet this is also where there was some logic to the final result. As impressive as PSG had been, and as dismally disappointing as Liverpool were, Slot offered a decisive change even before the Elliott substitution.

Liverpool very notably retreated and dug in. Slot had seen how much space PSG were enjoying and admitted that he changed his side's pressing. From around the half-hour, there was suddenly much less space behind Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, as well as between Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola were no longer finding the same space. They weren’t creating the same openings. Crucially, they also looked like they were feeling considerable frustration from not having scored. They lacked that deeper experience.

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Ibrahima Konate was fortunate not to recieve a red card for a tackle on Bradley Barcola (AFP via Getty Images)

Liverpool didn’t exactly offer much themselves, sure, but that was the point. It was pragmatism to a level we haven’t yet seen from Slot.

And it paid off. Just about.

They still needed Alisson to offer one of his best games for the club. He said it was one of the best of his life. Some of the stops, especially from repeated Kvaratshkelia efforts, were utterly brilliant.

It wasn’t just how he got to the ball, but how he palmed it away with such strength to avert danger. Many Premier League peers could take note.

Slot will have also taken note himself. Liverpool know the work is far from done, and they are going to have to be prepared for a serious night in the second leg.

PSG were overrunning Liverpool in almost every area, but especially on the flanks and in midfield.

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Alisson's fine performance kept Liverpool in the game before Elliott’s winner (REUTERS)

Out wide, there were so many moments when PSG realised they could just loft the ball over the top of either Robertson or Alexander-Arnold, confident that either Dembele or Barcola - or indeed Achraf Hakimi or Nuno Mendes - could just outsprint them.

In the midfield, it was somehow worse. Liverpool looked like a Premier League side from the 1990s, in how they were just outmanoeuvred at pace.

At least until the half-hour. Up to then, PSG just looked so much more forceful and fearsome than the star projects of the recent past, and it is surely no coincidence that comes from having a more humble squad of players, who also suit the manager’s approach.

Kvaratskhelia’s languid style looks like it is from another era, although that hides a devastating turn of pace that can so quickly produce passes and shots that no one else would have been able to see. That unique style ironically cost him, in the most unlucky way, as the distinctive way he moves his heel brought an offside call at the same time as he curled a divine shot into the corner.

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Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had a first half goal ruled out for offside (EPA)

The way he runs games while being constantly on move is fitting, since there is a blur of movement all around him. Dembele has finally started to look like he is worth €148m. Barcola is one of the most exciting talents in Europe and yet it was long before the Liverpool goal that both Kvaratskhelia and Barcola were hauled off.

Slot had already cut out the midfield. It was really a masterstroke, even if it didn’t look like it for long periods. The introduction of Elliott was then the final touch.

PSG had repeatedly looked fragile in that area. It was just a case of finding the moment.

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Harvey Elliott scored an 87th minute winner to give Liverpool advantage in the tie (REUTERS)

PSG are now going to have to find much more for the second leg. They look like they have the running in them.

Slot also made a point after the game of stating "all the underlying stats show you they were the best team in Europe until now" and that PSG can take "a lot of positives" from the night. Luis Enrique said they will go at Liverpool in the same way.

But can they have the same belief?

Results like this will dent that. They looked like they were losing conviction as they went longer and longer without scoring. They were more rushed. That isn’t quite the same old PSG but it is one of the same old truths of football. This is the flip side of youth, and when a certain inexperience or lack of canniness can cost you. The feeling within the club even before this game was that, as good as Luis Enrique’s side have been, this is still “a season too early”.

You could see why, in how this game went. Slot meanwhile saw something few others did. PSG just kept seeing Alisson’s hands.

They did most of the grabbing, only for Elliott to smash it. .