has opened up on the dressing down he and his team-mates received at the hands of . The Reds boss was serving the second of a two-match touchline ban during 's visit to Anfield on Saturday, but he saw enough from high in the stands to bomb down to the changing rooms and dish out a half-time dose of the hairdryer treatment.

Liverpool were expected to wipe the floor with Southampton, who are on course for one of the worst points totals of all time. It therefore came as a shock when Will Smallbone put the visitors ahead in first-half stoppage time, leaving the hosts to chase an unlikely deficit after the break.

Slot made three half-time substitutions and did not hold back behind the scenes, with Salah admitting 'he went for us'. On the dressing room mood at the interval, the Egyptian said: "A bit of frustration.

"The manager, his head was like going for us - but that's something you need sometimes. Because first half, the game was sloppy, we just were slow and taking our time and in the last minute they managed to [go ahead in] the game."

Buoyed by the triple change, Liverpool kept their heads and were in front within 10 minutes of the restart. Darwin Nunez initially levelled before Salah scored twice from the spot to take another big step towards the Golden Boot.

Slot is pleased that his hard-line approach paid off in the end. "I didn't give them compliments at half-time, I can tell you," explained the Dutchman.

"When you watch a game from [up] there [in the stands] you always feel like, '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. That was the only thing I could come up with at half-time to create something different for the second half."

With a 16-point buffer between themselves and Arsenal, at least until the Gunners play at Old Trafford on Sunday, Liverpool can afford to turn their attention back to Champions League duties. They will carry a slender 1-0 lead into the second leg of their last-16 showdown with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, having pinched a superb result in the French capital earlier this week.