Mohamed Salah looked sad on the Liverpool bench at the Parc des Princes as he watched five of his team-mates being sent off by manager Arnes Slott for the game against Paris Saint-Germain.
Mo Salah was left on the bench (Image: Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Manager Arne Slott’s decision to leave Mohamed Salah on the bench during the 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain was due to Liverpool being in “survival mode” at the Parc des Princes.
PSG took a commanding lead in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals thanks to strikes from Désiré Douet and Hviča Kvaratscheria.
Salah was left out of the starting XI and remained an unused substitute as Slott introduced young midfielder Trey Nyoni after simultaneously replacing Andy Robertson, Codi Gakpo, Curtis Jones and Alexander Isak, who returned from a broken leg in December.
The Liverpool manager explained that as Luis Enrique’s side were in control of the proceedings, the priority was to limit the damage ahead of next week’s return match at Anfield, rather than salvaging a draw on the night.
Asked why Salah was not called up, Slott said: “At the end of the game it was more about survival than having a chance to score,” the Liverpool Echo reported.
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“Last season, when I sent Mo off, Harvey Elliott scored five minutes before the end, so you never know. He was defending in the box for 20-25 minutes, but I think it’s better to save his energy for the games coming up in the next few weeks.”
“You’d think if you press them high and force them to make mistakes, you’d do better. But we were in survival mode for most of the game. But maybe we’ll be in survival mode for the rest of the season.”
“We’re trying to find a way to make sure we don’t see too much of their quality and it’s really hard to do that against this team.”
“They have unbelievable pace from all over the pitch,” added Slott, who is using a full back five for the first time during his time at Liverpool.
Mohamed Salah did not feature in the match against Paris Saint-Germain (Image: Tnani Badreddine/Getty Images)
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“(Achraf) Hakimi and Nuno Mendes were an incredible threat apart from the other players, so we played them with (Jeremy) Frimpong and (Milos) Kerkes. That was the idea behind it. We thought that way we could try to press them very high up and offensively. Usually players like Milos and Jeremy are better able to do that than wingers who are out and about.”
“But almost every time we try to do that, you know they had five or six chances in the moment where we were completely ripped away. That speaks to how difficult it is to play those teams.”
“In the lower block, it means you have more defenders, you’re tighter, you’re more aggressive. The second part, when you bring in Joe (Gomez), you also add set-piece quality. There seems to be a lot of focus on the system. I’d even describe it as a five. But the margins are really small.”
Arne Slott’s team lost to PSG (Image: TNT Sports)
“If I had played with a real winger here, how would it have been against Hakimi and Nuno Mendes? It’s clear that we won’t use the same tactics as tonight.
“It’s good when people talk about tactics, but for me it’s not about the match. A lot of teams have implemented a lot of tactics here, but the result is always the same: Paris Saint-Germain beat everyone.”
“I’m sure in less than a week we’ll be able to show something different. I’m sure we’ll be able to play a game more similar to the one we played at home last season.”
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