Defender Andy Robertson felt a return to Liverpool’s former “gung-ho” style was key in changing the game for the Premier League leaders against Southampton.
However, he accepts there will have to be wholesale improvements for Tuesday’s second leg against Paris St Germain if they want to make the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The hangover from the backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win in Parc des Princes were felt in the first half as Saints’ Will Smallbone capitalised on the lethargy and a misunderstanding between Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker to put the visitors ahead.
A half-time blast from head coach Arne Slot and a triple substitution saw Liverpool emerge a different side and two goals inside five minutes from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah (with a penalty) turned things around before the Egypt international added a second late spot-kick to secure a 3-1 victory.
Slot’s style since replacing Jurgen Klopp has been much more controlled but certainly for the early exchanges after the interval some of the old chaos was back.
“The first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half I thought we blew them away and that was maybe similar to what we have kind of done in previous seasons,” said Robertson, one of the three players to come off the bench and make an immediate impact.
“Maybe we have a bit more control and have time to be a bit more patient, whereas the 2019/20 (Premier League-winning) team when we got the ball we killed people on the counter-attack.
“It is different (now) but I do still think we have elements and you saw that in the second half where we were very gung-ho and just put Southampton under pressure and kept them penned in.
“Thankfully the lads had their shooting boots on and we were able to punish them.”
PSG, who dominated in the first leg before conceding an 87th-minute Harvey Elliott goal, are of a much higher calibre than the Premier League’s bottom side and will not be as forgiving even facing a deficit.
It means Tuesday’s game remains on a knife-edge and Robertson said everyone was aware they cannot afford to be so far off their game again.
“They showed how good they can be, an exceptional team – probably the best we have played this season,” he added.
“We have got the lead, which is important, but we can obviously play better than we did on Wednesday, that’s clear and we will have to play better.
“We can’t rely on Alisson playing the game of his life every game. We have to be more front-footed.
“The aim is to get through but we have to play a lot better than we did in the first half today and the whole 90 minutes over there.”
