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After Alisson’s Liverpool heroics, Virgil van Dijk pinpoints exactly what was missing vs PSG
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- After Alisson’s Liverpool heroics, Virgil van Dijk pinpoints exactly what was missing vs PSG
In one of the many moments where Paris Saint-Germain swarmed the Liverpool box, Virgil van Dijk was conscious of the need to snap on any loose ball. The French side's attackers were that quick.
Except, he and the rest of the Liverpool defence found they often didn't need to.
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Goalkeeper Alisson wasn't just making fine saves, but essentially clearing the ball from the area with the strongest hands you're likely to see from a goalkeeper. It represented quite a difference to some of his Premier League rivals, who have so often been guilty of palming the ball directly into the path of opposition players.
Luis Enrique later said that "the goalkeeper decided which way the game went", with Alisson himself describing it as the performance of his life.
Van Dijk was only too willing to continue with the superlatives.
"Listen, he's the best goalkeeper in the world," the centre-half said. "I've mentioned it many times in the past and he showed it again on the biggest stage.
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"I think he has shown already since day one he joined the club he is a world-class goalkeeper and he's reminded everyone that's still the case."
Part of the reason for a reminder, of course, is that Alisson has not really needed to be anywhere near as good this season. Liverpool have been in control of so many matches under Arne Slot. The Premier League leaders have imposed their game.
That wasn't the case in the Parc des Princes , as PSG, and especially Khvicha Kvaratskhelia , ran the play. While there has already been some talk that this was a tactic similar to the recent 2-0 win over Manchester City , where Liverpool were happy to cede possession, Van Dijk echoed his manager in insisting this wasn't the case. It wasn't some clever approach.
Harvey Elliott was Liverpool's match-winner but Arne Slot's tactical tweak kept the Reds in the contest (Adam Davy/PA Wire)
"I think you could see, it was not a usual game we like to play because we obviously like to dominate as well," Van Dijk said. "We like to have more influence, especially with the ball, than we had but we knew before the game this could be a scenario in terms of the fact they could have the ball a lot more and we would have to find a way to create chances. At times you saw it could be wide open if you made the right decisions, but most of it was defending as one unit and stopping them from scoring and Ali obviously played a big part in that."
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That did gradually lead to a shift. Van Dijk pointed to how Alisson's saves "frustrated them a little bit", a factor which is going to be all the more pronounced when you're a young side. PSG started to rush play.
Then there was Slot's composure. The Liverpool manager admitted later that, at about the half-hour mark, he changed the pressing, and Van Dijk went into more detail on that.
"I felt like we knew they would come blazing in terms of the press one vs one and our plan was to go over the press and make second runs in behind," the Reds skipper revealed. "It worked a couple of times and you could see how much space it opened up but I think we were a bit too rushed at times as well with our decision-making and we couldn't find the right man or were not as good in possession as we wanted to be.
"But what I really liked was the togetherness, everyone put a shift in and we know everyone can be better. We don't want to be playing this way because everyone who plays football wants to have the ball a lot and wants to be dominating opponents, but we played against a team with a lot of quality, world-class quality. They made it very difficult for everyone in the world so far and they made it difficult for us but we found a way."
Alisson Becker stretches out a hand to deny Kvaratskhelia (Reuters)
Van Dijk made a point of stating that many of Alisson's later saves were from "a lot of shots from distance", and Slot had similarly warned Liverpool they would eventually "have to play long balls more than we usually do". That led to Harvey Elliott 's late goal.
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Van Dijk admitted it was like the City game in one factor: "the mentality".
The 33-year-old said: "Knowing it was always going to be tough and a different game from what we are used to apart from the second half against City, where we also had to dig deep and work a little bit more, we found a way and we have to find a way to finish it off next week. But it will be difficult."
Van Dijk acknowledged this could have been much more difficult had Ibrahima Konate been sent off for a first-half incident, but he stressed he was never that concerned.
"Never say no worries because you never know but I felt like what I saw I was convinced it wasn't going to be [a red card]," Van Dijk recalled. "But at the end of the day it is the referee with the VAR which has to make the decision and it wasn't, so we carry on."
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Tuesday may bring a similar test.
"We have to try to finish it off next week," Van Dijk concluded. "It will be a difficult task but we are at home with our fans and we have to fight – and we will."
