Paris Saint-Germain may have taken an early lead against Liverpool tonight, but Luis Enrique was still left ‘fuming’ over one aspect of the Reds’ play in the first half.
There were just 11 minutes on the clock when the home side enjoyed a huge stroke of fortune to hit the front, as Desire Doue’s shot took a wicked deflection and looped over Giorgi Mamardashvili before dropping into the visitors’ net.
It left the away side with a compulsion to abandon their original plan to contain PSG for as long as possible, although Arne Slot’s team still tried to slow down the game wherever possible.
Speaking on punditry duty for BBC Radio 5 Live, Paul Robinson noticed how Liverpool’s efforts to take time at set pieces got under the skin of Enrique in the home dugout.
The former England goalkeeper said: “It is amazing watching Liverpool play so slow and methodical using set-plays as a plot routine. Luis Enrique is fuming about the time Liverpool take.”
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The Reds are more accustomed to being on the other side of the coin whereby they’re the team trying to break down opponents who slow the play as much as possible, so it’s quite understandable that they’d try to do the same against a PSG outfit with extraordinary attacking capabilities.
It’d be downright naive for Liverpool to go gung-ho against Enrique’s side and leave themselves wide open to be picked apart by a team who smashed eight goals past Chelsea in the previous round of the Champions League (and were backed by Christophe Dugarry to ‘massacre’ the Merseysiders), so they’re right to take their time whenever they have a set play.
The concession of the early goal has forced Slot’s team to come out a bit more than they would’ve liked initially, but it makes sense to try and frustrate the natives at every opportunity in such a partisan atmosphere at the Parc des Princes.
The Reds simply need to keep the tie alive for the second leg at Anfield next Tuesday, and if that means sacrificing some artistry in favour of pragmatism, so be it.
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It’s a contradiction to slot’s vision when he said he wants to play like psg…
It’s a sad day that WE are the team trying to slow down play.
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