Luis Enrique admits ‘surprise’ with Arne Slot decision after PSG beat Liverpool | Football

Luis Enrique admits he was ‘surprised’ by Arne Slot’s decision to play five on the back in Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain within the Champions League on Wednesday night.

PSG delivered a dominant display in Paris with Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scoring in each half for the Champions League holders.

For his side’s trip to the French capital, Slot opted to play a back three of Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez with Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez operating as wing-backs.

Nonetheless, Liverpool struggled to bother PSG as they did not register a shot heading in the right direction and had just 26 per cent of possession.

Speaking after PSG’s victory, Luis Enrique was asked whether he was surprised by Slot’s decision to start out with a defensive formation.

‘It’s a surprise since it’s the primary time Arne Slot has played with three on the back this 12 months,’ Luis Enrique told Canal Plus.

‘It showed that they’re changing and trying something recent, which is normal. We’re used to opponents adapting to us, so no worries. We’ll be trying to win the second game.’

In a separate interview with TNT Sports, Luis Enrique added: ‘I do know Arne Slot is an incredible coach, it’s the primary time they play with five on the back.

‘But we’re used to seeing other teams change formation to play against us, it’s normal.

‘I believe they played an incredible much, they’re a physical team, very strong, have individual, quality players and it was a really nice match. It’s at all times a pleasure playing against Arne Slot and his teams because they struggle to play football in an offensive play and it was nice to observe.’

Explaining his formation after Liverpool’s defeat to PSG, Slot admitted he desired to counter the threat posed by Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes on the wings.

‘They’ve pace from all over the place all around the pitch, so it doesn’t matter where you look, you see pace, incredible pace, Hakimi and Nuno Mendes are an unbelievable offensive threat, aside from all of the others, so we played with Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, that was the thought behind it and that way I assumed we could attempt to press them really high and aggressive because Jeremie and Milos are also two players, when you press Hakimi and Nuno Mendes they play they usually begin to run,’ Slot said.

‘They don’t begin to run by the best way, they begin to sprint, actually it’s not even sprinting, it’s only a level above sprinting. You will have to deal with that and typically players like Jeremie and Milos are higher equipped for that than out-and-out wingers.

‘But I believe we could also see after we tried to press them high and aggressive those were also the moments we were completely ripped apart, I believe we had 5 – 6 big probabilities from them after we tried to be high and aggressive, it tells you ways difficult it’s to play against this team.

‘We try to do that in a high press and in a low block means we’ve more defenders on the pitch, more tight, more aggressiveness, I believe you noticed this bringing Joe in, you add set-piece quality as well.

‘There appears to be a number of concentrate on the system but what’s the difference if I played Rio [Ngumoha] or Cody Gakpo as a left winger because Milos needed to play as a left winger facing Hakimi and there have been 4 defenders left.

‘If I could also explain it as a 4-3-3 with Florian on the left, Hugo in the center and Milos on the left, three midfielders and 4 defenders but because they’re defensively minded people see it as a five, that’s the best way I’d describe it by the best way.

‘I believe the margins are really small, just attempt to give it some thought if we had tried to play with real wingers here today what would which have looked like against Hakimi and Nuno Mendes.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

MORE: Manchester United board slammed over ‘certainly one of the most important transfer mistakes ever’

MORE: Michael Carrick provides Lisandro Martinez update with Harry Maguire set to miss Man Utd vs Leeds

MORE: ‘I disagree totally’ – Shay Given shuts down bizarre claim about Arsenal star David Raya