Arne Slot referenced his distinctive look. “I tend to think of myself that my brains are not the worst part of my head,” said the Liverpool head coach. “The hair is not growing a lot but I can remember a lot.” If it means Slot can remember three games against Paris Saint-Germain, from the smash-and-grab win in the Parc des Princes last season to the one-sided defeat in the French capital last week, that brainpower will be required to devise a blueprint to eliminate the holders from the Champions League.
Slot has to be psychologist as well as strategist. He started off by reminding his players Liverpool were only 2-0 down. “It felt completely different,” he admitted. A side who failed to muster a shot on target in Paris need a minimum of two goals, and probably more. Slot has also turned mathematician in his attempts to instil optimism.
“For the ones [of the Liverpool squad] that have been with me for the past one and a half years, in the 49 home games we played 36 we were able to score two goals or more,” he said. The numbers came with a caveat. “We don’t play PSG in all 49 home games,” he said. They faced them in one, scored none and exited the Champions League in the last-16 13 months ago.
So Slot is looking to Anfield’s most recent Champions League game. Liverpool entered it with a first-leg deficit and overturned it emphatically. “Would you expect us after losing 1-0 to Galatasaray to then, in a different game, we could have scored eight or nine at home?” he asked. Four sufficed and might again on Tuesday night.
Two may not, given that PSG have scored in their last 17 matches and only drawn a blank in four of 45 games this season. Luis Enrique’s team are rarely silenced. “We have to find a perfect balance between being offensive but to be offensive you have to get the ball back,” said Slot, very aware Liverpool only had 26 percent of possession in Paris.
Indeed, the attacking abilities of two of the French champions’ nominal defenders influenced his selection six days ago. Slot was wary of the buccaneering full-backs Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi. They were why he went to a back five. It left Liverpool without wingers and when he chose them against Fulham on Saturday, Mohamed Salah and Rio Ngumoha scored. With the likelihood the back five will be ditched, he faces decisions whether to select either or both; if it is one, does he go for the veteran or the teenager? Whichever will need to track back.
As Slot noted, Liverpool’s history features outstanding attackers who were also the first line of the defence. He may have been thinking of Ian Rush or Kevin Keegan, more recently of Jurgen Klopp’s gegenpressers Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. A problem for Slot’s Liverpool at times this season is that they have lacked a similar intensity off the ball.
The Dutchman is looking to the stands for some of the energy. “I can only hope our fans can find an extra gear, compared to last season, which I will argue if that is possible because the atmosphere last season was unbelievable,” he said. And, from soon after the final whistle in Paris, Liverpool felt the Anfield factor could be decisive. “It is going to be not only 11 players or the subs. It is going to be the whole stadium,” added Dominik Szoboszlai who, of the 11 players, may be the likeliest to inspire a fightback.
Anfield has its history of spectacular turnarounds but Szoboszlai has his, too. The finest, he recalled, was in a play-off to qualify for Euro 2020 when Hungary trailed Iceland 2-1 going into the 88th minute. Szoboszlai himself got the 92nd-minute winner. Now the task feels still steeper. “I can say it would be the biggest comeback in my career, yeah,” added the midfielder.
He has been a European specialist this season, his tallies of five goals and four assists in the Champions League marking him out as one of the finer players in the competition. He has also been the man who hasn’t given up. Once again, he won’t.
“We need to go all in and give everything that’s possible,” he explained. “If at the end you can say you gave everything and we didn’t go through then you can still keep your chin up. I surely believe there is a big opportunity.”
It might be more of a slim chance. But Liverpool have beaten Real and Atletico Madrid this season, Inter Milan and Arsenal. They can sometimes be better in the bigger games. And Slot added: “There is a belief we can do special things. But we also need to be very, very, very special to achieve that as we are playing against the champions of Europe. That makes the task more complicated but not impossible.”
