Arne Slot names Liverpool 'machine' who he made a mistake playing against Southampton

Arne Slot admitted he got his Liverpool starting line-up wrong against Southampton.

The Reds had to battle from behind to earn a 3-1 win and take another step closer to the Premier League crown. Liverpool, the champions-elect, were expected to cruise to victory over a Southampton side who are bottom of the table and picked up just nine points all season.

But the rigours of a 1-0 smash-and-grab victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16 first leg three days prior clearly had an impact. Slot made only three changes from the win in the French capital. Yet Harvey Elliott, who came off the bench to bag the 87th-minute winner at PSG, was not one of them.

Many of Liverpool’s players looked short of energy in the first half against Southampton and they fell behind in stoppage-time. Elliott was introduced as part of a triple substitution at the break and had a magnificent impact. Darwin Nunez levelled before Mo Salah scored two penalties to move the Reds 16 points clear of second-placed Arsenal.

What’s been said

Asked if it was a tough decision not to start Elliott, head coach Slot replied: “It's always a difficult decision not to start Harvey, not to start Wata [Endo], not to start all the other ones I don't play. But if someone comes in [for] five minutes, touches his first ball and scores a goal and then changes your whole idea about the line-ups you made before, that would be a bit weird as well.

“He had a good impact on the game today, again a good impact on the game. That's why he got 45 minutes today as well, because he did so well in Paris. But there is also a reason why I play so many times the other ones and all the time they deserved that trust. Today, if I could do it one more time over I would have started differently than I started today, but you don't know this in advance.”

Szoboszlai replaced Dominik Szoboszlai at half-time against Southampton. Szoboszlai has been a mainstay in the No.10 role during Liverpool’s title charge, with his energy his key attribute. However, Slot admitted that the Hungary international appeared short of his usual zeal.

‘Maybe I made a mistake’

The Anfield chief added: “Every time I'm sitting here and talking about Dominik, I'm talking about, 'He's a machine. He can just keep on going, running, running, running.' But it was maybe the first time this season that 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.

“Now the good thing is he only played 45 [minutes], so he's more rested for the upcoming week now than he is if I would have 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.”