Arne Slot says that the first half of Liverpool should serve as a “warning signal” in Southampton's victory, which suggests that they have to improve en masse to have a chance at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.
Four days after their Smash-and-Grab 1-0 Champions League First-Leg victory in Paris, Liverpool threatened to drop points in the Premier League title race against the Bottom Club.
Will Smallbone's goal in the first half of the stopping time bewildered Anfield, but a Darwin Nunez strike and two Mohamed Salah Penaltes ensured that the Reds eventually claimed the points.
Slot, who looked from the stands as he served the second game of his prohibition of two games, made a triple half-time replacement after he had seen his team struggling early.
Alexis Mac Allister, Kostas Tsimikas and Harvey Elliott entered the battle during the break, with which Liverpool had managed two shots on goal from 29 accents in the Saints area.
Slot said Sky Sports: “I made it clear how difficult a game was and that we had to play at different intensity levels than we played against Paris Saint-Germain.
“Maybe we should also get used to that level of intensity that we will experience again on Tuesday.
“But in the end I had to make some difficult decisions, perhaps during the break, to create a certain anger within the players.
“That triple replacement at the start of the second half seemed to arrange the team again. The three who came in did really good. That is the first, but I could also see a different attitude of the other eight.”
Liverpool struggled with the intensity of PSG in the first stage of Wednesday and trusted on Alisson to make nine Saves-the most registered (since 2003-04) by a Reds goalkeeper in a Champions League match.
PSG had 27 shots to the two of Liverpool during that competition, and Slot has warned that the performance on Saturday was far away from the level they needed on Tuesday in Anfield.
“I am fully aware of the fact that if you play a season, you cannot play 38 times with the highest intensity or the best possible football you can play,” said Slot. 'Sometimes you have to find another way to win a game.
“But the first half today is hopefully a warning sign, because as I said, we have already experienced it in Paris – the intensity, the way they play, was very high for us that evening.
“If I compare it to the intensity we played today, it is not one, two, three, four, five steps down … It is probably seven or eight steps off the intensity levels of Paris Saint-Germain.”
The Opta-Supercomputer gives Liverpool a chance of 84.6% to retain their lead on first pipes to eliminate PSG, while their 26% chance of lifting the Champions League trophy is most of each club.
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