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Arne Slot had talked his way into trouble. When an ignominious defeat beckoned for Liverpool he may have talked them out of it. Confined to the directors’ box for his verbal assault on Michael Oliver after the Merseyside derby, Slot’s touchline ban did not prevent him going to the dressing room at half-time. However angry he was, his words changed the game.
Mohamed Salah described his manager’s mood as “a bit of frustration”. Slot probably showed a nice line in understatement when he said: “I didn’t give them compliments at half-time, I can tell you.” Three changes came immediately, two goals soon after. Victory followed, just as the title surely will. It may render this a footnote.
Yet at half-time, it had the makings of potentially the biggest shock in Premier League history, the side who may end up with tag of its worst ever team winning away at the putative champions. For Liverpool, however, there was not the unlikely double of an away victory over Paris Saint-Germain and a home defeat to Southampton in the same week. Instead, they extended their unbeaten run to 25 league games, their lead to 16 points. If Arsenal were encouraged by Will Smallbone’s opener, they ended up deflated. If Salah was quiet before the break, he ended up with a double that took him level with Sergio Aguero in the division’s all-time scoring chart, with 184.
His afternoon, like Liverpool’s, ended better than it began. “We were slow and sloppy in the first half,” said Salah. Slot added: “The energy levels were far, far, far too low. It was maybe the first time this season I saw this tempo.” He had restricted himself to three alterations in his starting 11, with a team that initially looked needlessly strong but, in a soporific start, too weak, but soon needed three more. The triple substitution was, Slot added, “the only thing I could come up with at half-time to create something different for the second half.”
The rested pair of Andy Robertson and Alexis Mac Allister were summoned, along with Harvey Elliott. The Englishman built on his match-winning cameo in Paris. Robertson was dynamic. Yet still more significant was the sudden transformation of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez from ineffectual to inspired.
A change in tempo and energy came immediately. Elliott drew a save from Aaron Ramsdale immediately. Four minutes later, Liverpool were level. After three more, they were ahead. For the 19th consecutive match at Anfield, they had scored at least twice. For good measure, they added a third.
Their first came from an enigma who showed his twin sides; the bad followed by the good. Arguably, Nunez was fortunate to still be on the pitch. He went from self-destructive to destructive. A wild hack at Kyle Walker-Peters brought a yellow card and a VAR check to see if it should have been red. He exerted a different kind of impact by tucking away Diaz’s low cross and then collapsing to the ground when challenged by Smallbone. “This cannot be a penalty, ever,” said manager Ivan Juric. “That changed the match.” Salah ended his two-game goal drought with two spot kicks, the second when the substitute Yukinari Sugawara handled under pressure from the relentless Diaz.
By then Nunez had been removed, Slot thinking about his booking. “I took a certain risk of keeping him on [at half-time],” he said, with Kostas Tsimikas going off because he was cautioned but the manager deciding he could not substitute a potential scorer when trailing.
Meanwhile, Elliott had come on for Dominik Szoboszlai who, for once, looked drained. For the serial substitute, the teamsheet may have been depressing – if he does not start against the division’s basement club, when does he? – but his response was excellent. “It’s just my job to come on and influence the game where I can,” he said. For the second time in four days, a Liverpool fan was a catalyst. He twice came close to a second goal in a week. “Harvey came in really strong and helped the team again after he did against PSG,” added Slot. The rematch with the French champions formed the backdrop. “We have to go three, four, five, six, seven steps up in terms of intensity from today for the game against PSG.”
And Southampton had the more intensity at the start. In theory, this was the biggest mismatch of the Premier League season. In reality, it was a closer contest than that. Southampton threatened to bridge a 58-point gap between the sides. It duly became 61; just not as easily as most anticipated.
Southampton’s formation was a 4-4-2-0, with no real forwards. They had shown too little pragmatism under Russell Martin. Here Juric’s defensive shape gave them a platform. His side had a menace on the break, even if their goal stemmed from Liverpool’s errors. “I like almost everything,” said Juric.
His record of 10 defeats in 11 outings is wretched but at Anfield, as at Old Trafford, there was evidence he can configure a team. In both games, however, Southampton led and lost 3-1. “We can lose but we have to fight like we fight today,” added Juric. Upcoming matches against Wolves and Leicester seem pivotal for Saints’ chances of overhauling Derby’s record low tally of 11 points.
At half-time, they were on course to reach 12. After nine saves and the performance of a lifetime in Paris came a moment for Alisson to forget. Unbeatable on Wednesday, he was at fault on Saturday after a breakdown of communication. Rather than clearing, Virgil van Dijk left Ryan Manning’s throw for the goalkeeper. Under pressure from Mateus Fernandes, he failed to gather. Smallbone swivelled to score his first Premier League goal. But for Alisson, there was a redemptive save from Cameron Archer later. And whereas Paris Saint-Germain had 27 shots against Liverpool and lost, four days later Slot’s side had 28 and won.
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