Arne Slot admits he made mistake starting Liverpool star against Southampton
Liverpool came from behind to beat Southampton 3-1 on Saturday, but it could have been a different story for the Reds had Arne Slot not made a big call at half-time to change THREE of his starting lineup
by Alex Richards · The MirrorLiverpool boss Arne Slot admits he made a mistake starting Dominik Szoboszlai in the comeback win over Southampton.
The Premier League leaders moved a whopping 16 points clear at the top of the table with victory over the division's bottom side - despite having trailed at the break.
But a strike early in the second half from Darwin Nunez and two penalties from Mohamed Salah handed the home side all three points at Anfield.
That comeback was prompted by a triple half-time substitution from Slot, with the Dutchman having been far from pleased with his side's display in the opening 45 minutes. Harvey Elliott, Alexis Mac Allister and Andy Robertson were all brought on at the break, for Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas.
Slot revealed after the match that he made the substitutes because that was the only way he could think to turn the game. He also conceded that his Hungarian midfielder, Szoboszlai, perhaps shouldn't have started in the first place.
He confessed: "Today, if I could do it one more time over, I would have started it differently than I started today - but you don't know this in advance. Every time I am sitting here and talking about Dominik, I'm talking about he is a machine. He can keep on going, running and running and running.
"It was maybe the first time this season I saw a different energy from him. Which is maybe normal. Maybe I made a mistake by playing him because he gives so much every single game.
"The good news is he only played 45 and is more rested for the upcoming week now than he is if I played him for 90. And the good thing for me is I have more than only one good midfielder in terms of Dominik.
"We have quite a few and Harvey came in really strong and helped the team again after him helping the team against Paris Saint-Germain also."
He continued: "I didn't give them compliments at half-time, I can tell you. Maybe it was because I was sitting up there instead of being at the line.
"When you watch a game from there you always feel that, ah, maybe even I can play in this game. But when you are on the line, there is always more tempo.
"I don't think I was wrong if I said at half-time that the energy levels were far, far, far too low. That is what had to change and that is why we made three substitutions.
"Apart from bringing in quality, also to create something. Because nine out of 10 times, when you take three out, the other eight are like, woah, something else should happen.
"That was the only thing I could come up with at half-time to create something different for the second half."
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