French football expert Julien Laurens criticised the tactical decisions made by Arne Slot as Liverpool exited the Champions League on Tuesday night following a home defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
With the Reds trailing 2-0 from the first leg, the Dutchman went for broke by starting both Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, although neither of those made it to the second half, in which the hosts were unable to capitalise on a 20-minute period of dominance before Ousmane Dembele struck twice.
Although LFC’s performance was a marked improvement on the first leg, ultimately the scoreline from Paris was replicated at Anfield as the Merseysiders bowed out of Europe for another season.
Laurens was critical of Slot for his tactical approach and team selection on Tuesday night, particularly the decision to start the Swedish striker when he’s still feeling his way back from a four-month injury layoff.
The European football expert told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I don’t want to blame Arne Slot again like we did last week, but that line-up to start was complete nonsense. That second half should have been exactly how Liverpool should have started this game tonight, to get the crowd going.
“It should not have been Isak from the start. I don’t even understand where that came from – unbelievable. I don’t understand. He made errors in that first leg in his line-up and the way I think they set up.
“Again, we said before the game tonight, he cannot get it wrong. Tonight is not the game to get it wrong. You can’t change at half-time and expect then to turn this game around. He had to get it right from the beginning, and for me again, he let the team down and the club down and the fans down.”
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Slot had to be bold with his starting XI on Tuesday with Liverpool two goals down from the first leg, although some fans may legitimately question the wisdom of starting Isak if – by the head coach’s own admission – the striker was only fit enough to play 45 minutes.
The Reds were treading a delicate tightrope in the first half last night – obviously they had to show some ambition to overturn the 2-0 deficit from Paris, but they couldn’t be overly cavalier and run the risk of PSG picking them off and killing the tie before half-time at Anfield.
LFC at least kept themselves in the fight going into the second half, and the ferocity they showed in the first 20 minutes after the interval was rightly praised by Tim Sherwood, but fatefully they failed to find the net when they had their opponents on the ropes in that period.
Slot also faced criticism from John Aldridge over some of his decisions on Tuesday, particularly the substitution of Joe Gomez just 22 minutes after bringing him on at half-time, although the head coach claimed afterwards that the Liverpool defender had asked to come off due to a fitness concern.
The Dutchman had to take some risks last night – being conservative simply wasn’t an option – but unfortunately the gambles didn’t pay off, and the scrutiny over his future will surely intensify if the Reds come up short in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.
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