Arne Slot explains latest Harvey Elliott starting omission | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot said he couldn't bring Harvey Elliott into the starting lineup based on his Champions League match-winning cameo against Paris Saint-Germain and that he has his reasons for starting other players ahead of the 21-year-old.

Elliott's goal in midweek helped Liverpool to an extremely fortunate 1-0 win over PSG in the French capital, having been on the back foot for almost all of the contest.

With the first half of their Champions League last 16 job done, it was quickly back to Premier League action for Slot's Liverpool as they took on Southampton. The bottom of the table Saints took a shock first-half lead through Will Smallbone but were unable to hold onto their advantage at Anfield as Liverpool roared back in the second 45 – Darwin Nunez's equaliser followed up by a brace of penalties from Premier League Golden Boot leader Mohamed Salah.

Elliott's omission was one of the talking points after the game, with Slot probed on why the young English midfielder, who recently spoke of his "anger" at not getting more opportunities, was again left to make an impact from the bench.

"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," the Dutchman said. "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.

Wataru Endo is another player making an impact but not getting many starts at Liverpool / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages

Pressed further on whether Elliott, who has not started a Premier League game this season, could get into the team before the season concludes, Slot continued: "Yes, there's enough time, we play nine more games in the Premier League and hopefully a few more in the Champions League as well, with one more in the League Cup.

"What it is with him, it is also with other players. They are in competition with so many good players and that makes it sometimes difficult to make a line-up, but it always helps to bring performances in like this for him. But also for Wata; he came in again 15 minutes before the end and again he showed how important he is for this team. The others as well.

"He trains really well, he does this and – I've said it many times about Wata and I can say the same about Harvey – hardly any playing time but just keeps on going. Then when your moment comes, you can show your quality – and that's the biggest compliment I can give him. But also the biggest compliment he brings to the team is he has just kept on going. Because I've experienced more than enough players that if they are in a similar situation like him and Wata, they start to do less and less.

"When you then play, you will probably not ask me why we don't play him. This is the situation we want as a team and it makes it sometimes difficult for me, that's true.