‘Best substitution of all time’ – Humble Arne Slot ‘lucky’ as Liverpool stars instantly combine for record-breaking goal
Today at 06:06 AM
Arne Slot has been hailed after his double substitution of Diogo Jota and Kostas Tsimikas instantly paid off against Nottingham Forest.
Liverpool had trailed the top-of-the-table encounter after Chris Wood’s first half goal at the City Ground.
With his side still trailing beyond the hour mark, Slot looked to his bench to turn the match around.
In a double change, Tsimikas and Jota were introduced in place of Andrew Robertson and Ibrahima Konate.
The decision paid off just 22 seconds later, with Liverpool already having a corner waiting to be taken.
Tsimikas’ left-footed delivery was nodded in at the back post by Jota in both players’ first touch since coming on.
In scoring, Jota made Liverpool history with their fastest Premier League goal by a substitute since such records were kept in 2006.
Fans were left stunned by the efficiency of Slot’s tactical switch on social media.
Reacting to the goal, one supporter asked: “Has Arne Slot just made the best double substitution in history?”
Meanwhile, another wrote: “That is the best substitution of all time!”
Jota also addressed the speed of his and Tsimikas’ impact off the bench at full-time.
He told TNT Sports: “We were watching the cup goal two or three years ago where he [Tsimikas] passed it to me.
“On the touchline, I said, ‘Let’s go now, recreate your assist, take the corner.’ It was one of those occasions where everything went right.
“Like I said, I’m not happy because we could have won. [Sels] made two great saves. You want to do better but he was good as well. It’s one more point but we wanted three.”
Reds boss Slot didn’t want to take much credit for the impact of Tsimikas and Jota, suggesting the instant results had an element of luck to it.
Slot said: “You need to be a bit lucky with that [substitutions]. We took Ibou [Konate] out at that moment who is normally a big threat on set pieces but we all know Jota can score a goal and Tsmikas has a good delivery.
“We brought them in to score a goal but they really did it after 20 seconds.”
As well as scoring, Jota’s three shots on target were more than any other Liverpool player, despite not coming on until the 66th minute.
The goal proved to be the final goal in the match, with neither side able to find a winner in the remaining 24 minutes.
As a result, Liverpool maintain their six-point lead over Forest at the top of the table and still have a game in hand.
Meanwhile, the Reds are seven points clear of Arsenal and ten ahead of fourth placed Chelsea.
Asked if he considers Forest to be title contenders, Slot added: "I said already that after 20 games you can judge the table much better than in the first five, six, seven, eight, nine or 10 games and if you are right up there with us and the other teams… and I don't think they are here because of luck.
"It is for every team very hard and difficult to play against them. They've already had a few difficult away games, with United away, [Manchester] City away, with Arsenal away, us away, playing us already twice.
"So, that shows you that they are a team that can compete for the top end of the league table.
"I also think, but you have to tell me if I am right, that they have had most of their players available until now for the whole season so I see almost the same line-up, and that is a quality for the coaching staff that they have as well.
"But if they can keep bringing the same players on the pitch I see no reason for them to drop a lot of points."
Liverpool make the trip to Brentford on Saturday while Forest host Southampton on Sunday.
