Arne Slot pulled a “surprise” on Bayer Leverkusen in fielding Luis Diaz as his No. 9 in the Champions League on Tuesday – even if his rival coach does not agree.
Diaz was deployed up front for the first time under Slot as Liverpool hosted Leverkusen, and came away with his first-ever hat-trick in a 4-0 win.
The Colombian was perhaps the unlikely choice when looking at the teamsheet given Cody Gakpo also started, but Slot’s explanation was clear.
Speaking to journalists in his post-match press conference, the Dutchman outlined why Diaz started as No. 9.
“A few things,” he began.
“I only have four attackers available at the moment, with the injuries of Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa.
“And Darwin didn’t play that much in the beginning, then he started to play a bit more, but with this fixture list it’s almost impossible to play them all, especially when you haven’t played that many games before.
“So that, in combination with the fact that I think [Jonathan] Tah is one of the best defenders in Germany – maybe the best defender in Germany – and he likes maybe to play more against a target man, someone who is there in the middle.
“We chose to play Lucho more from the left or the midfield and maybe surprise him afterwards with runs in behind – not only him, but in general.
“If you look at the first goal, that paid off. What a pass from Curtis Jones!”
Asked if he was likely to used Diaz as a striker again, Slot replied: “If we have more injuries like we have at the moment then this could happen, yes.
“But that also depends on who’s available and how the other team lines up, what the formation is.
“But last season I think if both of them play, then it was more Cody who played as a nine and Lucho as a No. 11.
“That’s also a possibility, but then we maybe had this height from Cody against Tah instead of someone who’s a bit more versatile and drops into the midfield.”
While Slot used Diaz up front as a means to “surprise” Leverkusen, Xabi Alonso stopped short of using that word when he discussed the tactical ploy.
“We were ready that they might change something, because of the situation with nine points, having the Premier League, being in a good position,” he told reporters.
“We were ready for them to change something.
“I didn’t know if Gakpo was going to be up front and Luis on the left when I saw the lineup, the other things, Tsimikas or Robertson, Curtis Jones or Szoboszlai.
“So no big surprise, because they can do that.
“The goals were not because we were not prepared for that, it was because of the quality that they have and later because we were going full gas to try to score one goal to change the mindset.
“Maybe with 2-1 something changes, and after it’s 3-0, 4-0, it’s hard, the result for me.”
