Arne Slot has attributed part of Liverpool’s struggles this season to opponents adapting their game plan and not being a “joy to watch” like Paris Saint-Germain.
Slot has repeatedly referenced PSG as the new blueprint ever since Liverpool’s two-legged defeat to Luis Enrique’s side in last season’s Champions League.
That was no different on Wednesday as the head coach previewed his side’s trip to Arsenal amid accusations of adopting ‘boring’ football.
Tactical necessity? Slot explains Liverpool’s “boring” football
- Necessity over choice: Arne Slot has hit back at accusations of “boring” football, insisting that his recent 4-5-1 setup is a forced adjustment.
- The PSG benchmark: The head coach admits recent games were not “a joy to watch,” citing Liverpool’s Champions League exit to PSG last season as his high-intensity blueprint.
- Opponent adaptation: Slot argued that while his attacking principles haven’t changed, opponents have become smarter at “killing the game” with low blocks.
Speaking to reporters including the Times‘ Paul Joyce and the Liverpool Echo‘s Paul Gorst, Slot insisted he had only changed his setup to a midfield-heavy 4-5-1 out of necessity.
“My football is Paris Saint-Germain vs. Liverpool, Liverpool vs. Paris Saint-Germain,” he argued.
“That is how I would love to have every single game, but you need to have two teams to have an open game of football and not all these things that don’t make a game of football nice.
“Against Fulham, I don’t think many people thought it was a joy to watch. I have said many times I found our games against Paris Saint-Germain a joy to watch.
“So compare these games with each other and ask yourself why one is a joy to watch and the other is harder to watch.”
Per FotMob, over those 210-plus minutes of football against PSG, Liverpool saw 38 percent of possession, managed four shots on target and scored one goal from an xG of 1.78 to their opponents’ 4.41xG from 18 shots on target.
As he continued, Slot rebuffed suggestions of settling on defensive football, insisting: “I did not change our style, but teams have changed their style against us.”
“Packing the team with midfielders is not something I am doing by choice,” he explained.
“I am doing it because certain players are not available and that is something that needs to be really clear.
“Because I am a manager now for six or seven years and I have always played with wingers and I have always changed my wingers with new wingers coming in.
“So I always have it 4-3-3 with real wingers and never 5-4-1 or 4-4-2 and I have adjusted it maybe four or five times in my career to bring in a midfielder as a winger because I thought the other team – when I was at different clubs to Liverpool – would have more quality than us so I wanted to make it more solid.
“
“I always have it 4-3-3 with real wingers.
“If I am known for one thing then it is attacking football, playing a lot of attackers and bringing a lot of attackers in when we are a goal down.”
“But if I am known for one thing then it is attacking football, playing a lot of attackers and bringing a lot of attackers in when we are a goal down.
“So I find it hard to hear that we play boring football let alone that I am not playing attackers.”
Liverpool signed two centre-forwards and a No. 10 for a combined £320 million in the summer while selling wingers Luis Diaz and Ben Doak, with no direct replacement for the Colombian in order to free up Rio Ngumoha‘s pathway.
Ngumoha is the most orthodox winger in the Liverpool squad at present but the 17-year-old has played just 64 minutes of football across the Premier League and Champions League.