Arne Slot admitted he was forced to give his Liverpool players a stern telling-off at half-time as the Premier League leaders faltered against rock-bottom Southampton before a fantastic second-half turnaround.

Darwin Nunez started the comeback after Will Smallbone’s first-half strike for Saints, before Mohamed Salah scored two penalties to take his tally to 32 for the season.

Liverpool looked jaded after their exerts in beating Paris Saint-Germain in midweek and Slot said he was less than pleased in the first 45 minutes, insisting he had no choice but to make three half-time substitutions.

‘I didn’t give them compliments at half time, I can tell you,’ said Slot, who was watching from the stands on the final game of his touchline ban. 

‘Maybe I can tell you it was because I was sitting up there instead of on the line. When you watch a game from there you always feel that “Ah, even I can play in this game” but when you are on the line there is more tempo.

‘I don’t think I was wrong if I said at half-time that the energy levels were far, far, far too low. That had to change and that is why we made three substitutions, apart from energy to bring in quality. 

'Nine out of 10 times, when you take three out, the other eight are like, something else should happen. That was the only thing I could come up with to create something different for the second half.’ 

It worked and Liverpool ended the day 16 points clear of Arsenal, who travel to Manchester United on Sunday. 

The Reds are not in league action now until April 2 but face Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield on Tuesday before the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle next Sunday.

Slot described this game as the first of three ‘finals’ in a week and he added: ‘The next two finals, I do hope we play better than the first one.

‘When I look at the game against PSG, we have to go one step up in terms of intensity and compared to the game today, we need to go five, six, seven steps up in terms of intensity if we want to have any chance of reaching the next round.’

'Something had to change at half-time. That's why I took a few players off, brought players in that brought a lot of energy for us. If you have energy and our quality, then it can lead to goals.'

Liverpool will need to get back to firing form for a full 90 minutes when they host PSG in their Champions League last 16 second leg next week, defending the miracle 1-0 advantage they picked up in the French capital.

Slot was asked if he thought his players' slow start was down to them playing with an eye for Tuesday's visit - but the Dutchman said he wasn't sure.

'I will never know because I cannot look in the head of my players,' he added. 'But I thought our game in Paris should have been a good warning for us that we need to go a level up to be ready for Paris Saint-Germain (in the second leg). 

'Maybe the only thing good comes from us being so slow in the first half that they can never tell me that they were tired after the first half.

'Maybe they saved their legs which is necessary because the intensity of Paris Saint-Germain is crazy. We have to not just step one step up, not two, but maybe three or four for Tuesday.'