Liverpool boss Arne Slot has admitted that he “made a mistake” by starting Dominik Szoboszlai in their 3-1 win over Southampton on Saturday.
The Reds were given a scare by the relegation-threatened Saints with Ivan Juric’s side taking a 1-0 lead via Will Smallbone in first-half injury time.
But a triple half-time substitution from Slot got Liverpool back on track with Harvey Elliott, Alexis Mac Allister and Andy Robertson entering the action for Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas.
The substitutes worked with Liverpool hitting back through Darwin Nunez before the Reds were awarded two penalties, which Mohamed Salah dispatched with ease to give Slot’s side a 3-1 win.
That victory puts Liverpool 16 points ahead of Arsenal – who have two games in hand and play Manchester United on Sunday – with only a monumental collapse from the Reds allowing the Gunners back in now.
But Slot admitted starting Liverpool midfielder Szoboszlai was a “mistake” after seeing “a different energy from him” for the first time this season.
Slot told reporters: “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.”
Liverpool boss Slot added: “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.”