Arne Slot suggests he should have started Liverpool star in win over Southampton | OneFootball

Arne Slot suggested he regrets not starting Harvey Elliott in the win over Southampton after criticising his side’s low energy levels despite the victory.

Liverpool found themselves a goal down at half-time after a mix-up between Virgil van Dijk and Alisson allowed Will Smallbone to score but Darwin Nunez equalised right after the restart before Mo Salah scored twice from the penalty to spot to secure a 3-1 victory at Anfield.

Elliott was left on the bench despite scoring a late winner against Paris St Germain in Liverpool’s Champions League round of 16 first-leg win on Wednesday.

He came on as a half-time substitute against Southampton and again impressed, with Slot admitting he would have done things differently in hindsight following a poor first-half showing.

“It’s always a difficult decision not to start Harvey, not to start Wataru (Endo),” Reds boss Slot said.

“But if someone comes in for five minutes, touches the ball for the first time and scores a goal and then it changes your idea about all the line-ups you made before, that would be a bit out of line. That would be a bit weird.

“He had a good impact on the game and today he again had 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’s also a reason why I play the other ones so many times. All the time they deserved that trust.

“But today, if I could do it over, I would start differently than I started today, but you don’t know this in advance.”

Slot also questioned his team’s low energy levels in the first half and insists much more is needed if they are to stand any chance of progressing past PSG in the second leg of their tie.

“I didn’t give them compliments at half-time, I can tell you,” Slot admitted.

“When you watch a game from the stands maybe you think even I could play in this game, but if you’re at the line it’s always more tempo.

“But I don’t think I was wrong this time if I said at half-time that the energy levels were far, far, far too low.

“That is what I had to change and that’s why we made three substitutions.”