Arne Slot admitted he gave his Liverpool players a stern half-time talk during his first Premier League game in charge, and his decision to substitute Jarell Quansah was ultimately vindicated.
Liverpool struggled for much of the first half against newly-promoted Ipswich at Portman Road, failing to register a single shot on target.
Slot identified the lack of success in one-on-one duels as a major factor in their underwhelming performance.
Ipswich, making their first top-flight appearance in 22 years, were impressive in their high-energy play.
A key battle in the match was between Ipswich forward Liam Delap and Liverpool centre-back Quansah.
Slot decided to replace the young defender with the more physically imposing Ibrahima Konate at half-time.
Konate’s introduction proved pivotal, helping Liverpool gain control of the physical contest.
In the second half, goals from Diogo Jota and Mo Salah within five minutes secured a 2-0 victory for the Reds.
When asked if he enjoyed his first taste of Premier League football by TNT Sports, Slot said: “Depends on which half you ask me about!
“The first taste in the first half was maybe as expected, because they were all on top of us and very aggressive.
“We couldn’t find the rhythm and we couldn’t find the balls in behind.
“But the second half was a joy to watch.”
When pressed on what he told his side at half-time, Slot added: “The first thing I said was we don’t have to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels, and that’s what we did.
“It’s not that Jarell lost every duel, many of us lost too many duels, so we needed Konate to win these long balls in the air towards their No.9 (Delap), so that helped and gave us control.
“But they put so, so much energy into the first half, running, fighting, playing all over the pitch one v one, and I don’t think they could keep up with that tempo in the second half.”
After replying “yes” to the question of whether Quansah’s substitution was tactical, he added: “If a team plays all over the pitch one vs one, do not always play the ball short constantly.
“I didn’t see them fighting for it in the first half, we lost almost every long ball.
“In the second half they were ready and then gas opened up and you could see we can play quite good football.”
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