Carragher: Slot's Tactical Approach Was Woefully Inadequate

According to Jamie Carragher, Liverpool's manager Arne Slot made significant tactical errors, and Virgil van Dijk will likely implore him to never use a back five again after the team's dismal performance against Paris Saint-Germain. Liverpool faces an uphill task to reach the Champions League semi-finals following a 2-0 quarter-final first leg defeat, a loss that Carragher believes could have easily been more substantial. Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored for Luis Enrique's side, condemning Liverpool to their 16th defeat of the season. The team missed several chances to widen their lead and had two penalty appeals denied by VAR. Carragher expressed his concern over the vast difference in class between the two teams, describing the experience as 'watching a team from a lower division.' He attributed the gulf to Liverpool's poor season despite spending £450m, surpassing PSG's summer expenditure. Slot's decision to switch to a back five in an attempt to counter the French giants backfired due to the use of man-to-man marking, leaving Van Dijk exposed alongside the struggling Ibrahima Konate. Carragher felt that the manager's tactics were 'massively wrong' and that the back five made the team more vulnerable than a back four would have. He believed that Van Dijk, at 34 years old, was uncomfortable in the back three and had to cover a lot of ground, which he couldn't do. Carragher also praised Van Dijk's performances this season, stating that he has been one of Liverpool's better players, but the system made him look uncomfortable. Slot acknowledged that Liverpool were fortunate not to have lost by a bigger margin and expressed relief that the tie is still alive. He attributed the defeat to PSG's exceptional performance, describing it as 'out of this world,' and similar to watching Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. Slot explained that he left Mohamed Salah as an unused substitute to conserve his energy for upcoming games, as the last part of the match was focused on survival rather than creating scoring opportunities.