Arne Slot explains surprise half-time decision and message that ignited Liverpool win

Arne Slot has outlined the change in approach that helped Liverpool make a winning start to his reign as head coach. The Reds shrugged off a poor opening 45 minutes with second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah earning a 2-0 win against promoted Ipswich Town in their Premier League opener at Portman Road on Saturday.

Slot made the surprise decision to substitute centre-back Jarell Quansah for Ibrahima Konate during the half-time interval.

And that switch, along with an increase in aggression and intensity, ensured the Dutchman become the first Liverpool boss to win his first league game in charge since Graeme Souness in 1991.

“It wasn’t so much that we lost the ball too much, but we lost far too many duels,” said Slot. “They (Ipswich) were very aggressive which led to three yellow cards, but in a good way aggressive.

“We didn’t cope with that well enough. That’s what I said to them at half-time – if you want to win here, you need to go a step up in terms of winning your duels first and make a fight out of it instead of accepting that every time we play a ball long, the ball ends up in our 16 again.

“It helped that Ibou Konate came in, he from the start won his duels from the (Ipswich) number nine and that gave us a lot of ball possession. We got two goals and could have scored more.”

Liverpool were knocked out of their stride for large periods of the first half against an Ipswich side who were celebrating the club’s return to the Premier League after a 22-year absence.

And Slot believes once the Reds got to grips with the physicality of the hosts, they were able to run away with the game following Jota’s opener on the hour.

“We as a team made a big change at half-time as we came out totally different to the first half,” he added.

“I have to give credit to Ipswich as they were aggressive, weren’t afraid, played one-v-one all over the pitch to defend us, then it’s about winning your duels and second balls and they won more than us.

“That’s why it was an equal game in the first half. But in the second half we won more duels and second balls and played more balls in behind.

“If the other team took the risk of playing one-v-one and you have the likes of Luis Diaz, Mo Salah and Diogo Jota, then use them. Play the balls in behind and that’s what we did better second half. Gaps opened up and you could see how good and well we could play in ball possession.”