What Arne Slot did at full-time gave game away about true Liverpool feelings

What Arne Slot did at full-time gave game away about true Liverpool feelings

Verdict from Ian Doyle in Eindhoven after Liverpool's clash with PSV in the Champions League

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It wasn’t quite up there with the great philosophical musings. Arne Slot, though, felt moved to declare before this game that a very wise man had once decreed to never having seen anything good come from losing a football game.

There is, of course, a first time for everything. While there will be disappointment at only a third defeat of the season in going down 3-2 at PSV Eindhoven in what was effectively a Champions League dead rubber, there were some positives.

And the big smile on Slot’s face as he greeted counterpart Peter Bosz on the pitch after the full-time whistle suggests any negatives won’t linger too long in the mind.

Indeed, any supporters angered by this defeat and the manner in which Slot’s selection underlined it wasn’t a priority are probably the same ones who had been demanding key players be rested in recent weeks. It is impossible to please everyone.

The hard work, of course, had been done earlier in the revamped opening stage, with the seven wins out of seven sealing Liverpool’s direct passage to the last 16 with a game to spare and thus rendering Slot’s first return to his native Holland as Reds boss an irrelevance. Barcelona’s failure to beat Atalanta meant Liverpool finished top regardless. Now one of Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Monaco or Brest await in the first knockout round.

If difficult to ascertain anything meaningful in a team sense give the scratch line-up will almost certainly never take to the field again, the plus points came in the form of some individual performances, 20-year-old James McConnell impressive on his third Liverpool start in midfield, Federico Chiesa playing a full 90 minutes for the first time for the Reds and the likes of Harvey Elliott, Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah got much-needed action.

There was an unfortunate finale when 18-year-old centre-back Amara Nallo, brought on in the 83rd minute for his senior debut, was sent off four minutes later for catching Johan Bakayoko in the nether regions. The teenager, who had managed just two touches after being introduced, replaced Michael Owen as the youngest player to ever be red-carded for Liverpool. Earlier, Trey Nyoni had become the youngest player to feature in European competition for the club aged 17 years 213 days.

Slot had already veered away from tradition by admitting on Tuesday that he had one eye firmly focused on Saturday’s Premier League trip to in-form Bournemouth. That, in truth, had already been evidenced by the unrecognisable 21-man squad which travelled to Holland. The 12 senior players who left behind were later joined by Darwin Nunez, who returned to Merseyside early due to illness.

Nunez’s absence opened the door for Jayden Danns to make the first senior start of his career. And the 19-year-old would have learned more from this evening than his eight previous substitute appearances combined.

Danns was often left to scrap for himself as the unrecognisable Reds understandably struggled for rhythm and cohesion, and found it difficult to hold on to possession while not helped by some generous officiating towards the PSV defenders. However, there was one impressive turn on the halfway line to release Elliott that gave a glimpse of his undoubted potential.

This was a big night for Cody Gakpo, the forward having been born in the city and coming through the ranks at PSV to become a first-team regular before moving to Liverpool in January 2023. The cheers from the home fans that greeted Gakpo’s name being read out before kick-off highlighted how he remains popular in these parts.

And while he was largely quiet throughout, the forward was involved in the goals that twice put Liverpool ahead. The first owed everything to the persistence of Chiesa who, having lost the ball in the area, pressured Joey Veerman into a rash challenge for a penalty Gakpo converted into the bottom corner. His subsequent celebration was, as he had earlier insisted, muted.

Liverpool’s second came from a punt downfield by Wataru Endo that Gakpo touched into the path of Chiesa, whose shot was parried by PSV goalkeeper Walter Benitez with Elliott snapping up the rebound.

Making only his second Liverpool start – and first since September – Chiesa was regularly involved as if to make up for lost time. The quality wasn’t always there, but was no questioning his fitness and effort. The Italian is ready for more minutes.

The makeshift defence – Andy Robertson had previously started precisely zero club games at centre-back during his long career – did a decent enough job at keeping PSV at bay until they crumbled three times before the break.

The first goal on 35 minutes saw a long ball flicked on by Ismael Saibari into the path of Bakayoko, who sat down Robertson and centre-back partner Quansah before scoring into the bottom corner.

The second 10 minutes later was prompted by Liverpool wrongly claiming a foul on Endo in midfield. With Bradley out of position, Veerman raced down the inside left channel and fed Saibari to smash into the roof of the net from close range. But the third goal was a touch unfortunate, as the overlapping Ricardo Pepi’s low cross took a touch off Bradley to sneak in at the far post.

The second half was less incident-packed but PSV always looked comfortable, prompting huge celebrations from the home fans at the final whistle. Liverpool, though, can now concentrate on games that really matter.

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