'We need': Slot says there were three players who 'really had an impact' in Liverpool's win over Southampton
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Liverpool were forced to come from behind to win against Southampton on Sunday.
The Reds were presented with the chance to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League after seeing Man City beaten by Tottenham the night before.
Things started well enough, with Dominik Szoboszlai scoring his first Premier League goal of the season to put Liverpool ahead.
However, a controversial penalty decision gave Southampton a way back into the game, before Mateus Fernandes put them in front after 56 minutes.
Liverpool fans were not happy with the penalty decision, with contact from Andy Robertson seemingly being made outside the box. The call fed into a feeling that it simply wasn’t going to be Liverpool’s day.
But the Reds dug deep and Mohamed Salah’s second half double meant that they do go eight clear in the title race after all. And although Salah was the main man, Arne Slot was keen to highlight the contribution of three more players besides.
Arne Slot hails Liverpool ‘impact’ substitutes
Slot made the decision to rest two out of the three members of the Liverpool squad who travelled to South America for international duty this week.
Only Darwin Nunez started, with Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister understandably dropping to the bench.
With Liverpool 2-1 down, though, Slot knew he had little choice but to change things up. On came Diaz and Mac Allister with 28 minutes left.
Three minutes later, Salah had equalised. And after the Egyptian scored again, the Liverpool head coach brought Wataru Endo on to shore things up.
READ MORE: What Arne Slot went and did to the Liverpool fans immediately after Reds beat Southampton
Speaking about his substitutes in his post-match press conference, Slot hailed the ‘impact’ of each of them.
“That’s why teams in England have such a big squad, because top clubs have quite a lot of money we can also make a bigger squad than other teams in other countries,” the Dutchman explained.
“And that’s also what we need, you saw it again today, the three players that came in really had an impact on the game and that is what we need in this league.”
Arne Slot highlights Wataru Endo contribution
Each of the introduced trio made an important contribution for Liverpool.
Mac Allister was an improvement on the disappointing Curtis Jones, while Diaz was a little more productive than Cody Gakpo, too.
But it was Endo, with his injury-time steeliness, who earned special praise from his manager. Slot hailed Endo’s ‘importance’ to Liverpool after the game.
And speaking to LFCTV, the 46-year-old also added a little more acclaim to his trio of substitutes.
“That’s what you know if you have so many quality players,” said Slot. “That’s what makes the team strong as well, that the ones that come in they don’t come in with the wrong attitude, they always come in with the right attitude. That’s not more than normal if you play for this club that you have this attitude but that’s also what these players show every time.”
