We examine Arne Slot’s post-match news conference after Liverpool’s Champions League exit to Paris St‑Germain and how his explanations—missed chances, injuries and VAR—stack up.
Missed chances
Slot has repeatedly pointed to a lack of clinical finishing this season. Liverpool produced 1.92 expected goals (xG) against PSG at Anfield but failed to score, and Slot said: “Unfortunately, it’s one of the many examples of this season where we weren’t able to score from the many chances we had… we were so far underperforming in terms of xG and that is just an ongoing thing with us throughout the whole season.”
The numbers back that up in Europe: Liverpool had scored 24 goals from 27.8 xG in the Champions League this campaign, the largest underperformance among the quarter‑finalists. In the Premier League the picture is less stark — Liverpool’s goals total is only 0.65 below their xG figure — and there are nine teams with worse differentials. But the club’s problems with high‑quality opportunities are more worrying: only Aston Villa have a worse conversion rate of Opta‑defined big chances in the Premier League, and Liverpool have missed 59 of 86 clear‑cut openings in the top flight.
Individual underperformance against xG has been notable too. Curtis Jones, Florian Wirtz and Alexis Mac Allister rank among Liverpool players with the largest gaps between goals scored and xG. Mohamed Salah has missed 11 of 14 big chances, and Virgil van Dijk has converted one of his eight clear‑cut openings — both costly shortfalls.
Injuries
The summer recruitment plan envisaged Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike combining to form a new attacking core after Isak’s £125m move from Newcastle and the club spending around £320m on the forward group. That plan has been repeatedly disrupted by injuries. Isak suffered a broken leg in December and Tuesday was only his first start back. Ekitike was stretchered off against PSG, and Slot noted the frustration of not having the trio together more often: “For 88 minutes [before Tuesday] we have played with Florian [Wirtz], Alex and Hugo. We added about 27 to that and I would be surprised if we add more minutes to that this season.”
Slot added bluntly about Ekitike: “Losing a game is hard but again losing a player is something we’ve had many times this season.”
Beyond the forwards, Liverpool have had further personnel strains. Alisson missed time with hamstring issues; Conor Bradley underwent knee surgery; Giovanni Leoni’s ACL injury depleted centre‑back options; and Jeremie Frimpong, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez have all had lengthy absences. The cumulative impact of those injuries has limited Slot’s selection and continuity.
Match officials and VAR
Slot has also been vocal about refereeing decisions going against his side this season. Tuesday’s match saw VAR overturn a penalty initially awarded to Alexis Mac Allister, prompting Slot to say: “…another intervention of the VAR which was not in our favour and that is not for the first time this season.” He referenced other incidents this term where VAR checks led to decisions benefiting opponents — for example a Brentford penalty given after a VAR check when Van Dijk caught Dango Ouattara, and a Leeds penalty awarded after the referee reviewed the monitor when Konate fouled Wilfried Gnonto.
Slot acknowledged some fortunate moments earlier in the tie — a PSG penalty was overturned after Konate’s challenge on Warren Zaire‑Emery in the first leg, and Konate avoided punishment for a push on Nuno Mendes — but his wider complaint is consistency: Liverpool have also seen Van Dijk have a header controversially ruled out at Man City and been affected by contentious stoppage decisions in other games. Asked about the overturned Mac Allister penalty, Slot said: “If you look at our season, I’m not surprised as so many decisions have gone against us this season.”
A bright future — but results needed now
Despite the improved second‑leg performance against the European champions, Liverpool’s exit means they face a likely trophyless season after winning the Premier League last term. That raises pressure on Slot to finish in the Premier League’s top five to secure Champions League football next season — a point highlighted by pundit Tim Sherwood, who said Slot needs to qualify for the Champions League to keep his job.
Slot, however, remains upbeat about the squad’s long‑term prospects, pointing to the talented young arrivals and academy graduates. Ryan Gravenberch (23), Ekitike (23), Wirtz (22), Conor Bradley (22), Milos Kerkez (22) and the 17‑year‑old Rio Ngumoha all present potential for improvement. “The future looks very bright for this team, because we’ve shown that we can compete with the champions of Europe in our stadium, to be the dominant team,” Slot said after the game.
The immediate task, though, is delivering results in the final six Premier League games to secure Champions League qualification and give that youthful potential the platform Slot envisages.