A three-minute barrage not long after the interval turned the Anfield contest around in the Reds' favour, having trailed at the break due to Will Smallbone's opener.

Darwin Nunez netted the equaliser and Mohamed Salah then dispatched his first penalty of the afternoon to put the hosts 2-1 up.

Salah's second spot-kick past Aaron Ramsdale in minute 88 sealed the three points for Slot's men, who moved 16 clear at the summit ahead of Arsenal's encounter with Manchester United on Sunday.

Read on for a full transcript of the head coach's post-match press conference...

I didn't give them compliments at half-time, I can tell you. Maybe it was because I was sitting up there instead of being at the line because I know from experience, not that I've been suspended before, that when you watch a game over there, you always feel like, 'Maybe I can even play in this game.' But if you are then at the line it's always more tempo. But I don't think I was wrong this time if I said at half-time that energy levels were far, far, far too low. That is what had to change and that's why we made three substitutions just to, apart from bringing in quality, also create something. Because nine out of 10 times when you take three out, the other eight are like, 'Ooh, something else should happen.' That's the only thing I could come up with at half-time to create something different for the second half.

In the end I took him off because he was on [a] yellow but I always hate the idea, if we need to score goals, to take someone off that can score a goal. That's why it wasn't in my mind to take him off because I was already planning on after these three if we don't score a goal then [Diogo] Jota needs to come in and we have to go even more offensive. With Cody [Gakpo] being out, it isn't like we have that many attacking options left, so that's why I took a certain risk of keeping him [on].

A No.9 that is on [a] yellow is different than Kostas [Tsimikas]. I took Kostas out for that reason, because he was on yellow, and second of all I also knew that Robbo [Andy Robertson] always creates something with his energy, with his mentality – not only in the team but also with the fans. There's a reason why Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] is a World Cup winner, because he shows up when you need him in terms of mentality and that's also definitely what he brought in this second half.

That's also the life of a No.9 – you go from missing a chance to scoring an important goal to then, all of a sudden, missing a chance again. But I think today, especially in the second half, you also saw the work-rate he can bring to the team. But the main thing that happened was in the second half we started to play in a different tempo – not only without the ball but also with the ball.

The first goal, if you look at Lucho [Luis Diaz], how he takes that one-v-one on, I don't think I can select a clip where that happened in the first half. In the second goal, Ryan Gravenberch pushed up all the way at the 18-yard line to win that ball which led to the foul on Darwin, whereas in the first half every ball that fell out they could just pick up the ball and start to play. The energy in the stadium for the players and the fans in the second half was completely different than the first half.

You didn't select the right game, because every time I'm sitting here and talking about Dominik, I'm talking about, 'He's a machine. He can just keep on going, running, running, running.' But it was maybe the first time this season that I saw a different energy from him, which is maybe normal. Maybe I made a mistake by playing him because he gives so much every single game. Now the good thing is he only played 45 [minutes], so he's more rested for the upcoming week now than he is if I would have played him for 90. And the good thing for me is I have more than only one good midfielder in terms of Dominik. We have quite a few and Harvey [Elliott] came in really strong and helped the team again after him helping the team against Paris Saint-Germain.

No, because I know these players can come up with completely different energy levels than they came up with today in the first half. I think it was maybe the first time this season that I saw this tempo. I think Paris Saint-Germain showed us the right example; they played Lille in incredible intensity, 4-0 up at half-time and then they played against us and that intensity I haven't seen before in a game we've played this season. When I look at the game against PSG, we need to go one step up in terms of intensity. But if I compare it with the game today, we need to go three, four, five, six or seven steps up in terms of intensity if we want to have any chance of reaching the next round.

It's always a difficult decision not to start Harvey, not to start Wata [Endo], not to start all the other ones I don't play. But if someone comes in [for] five minutes, touches his first ball and scores a goal and then changes your whole idea about the line-ups you made before, that would be a bit weird as well. He had a good impact on the game today, again a good impact on the game. That's why he got 45 minutes today as well, because he did so well in Paris. But there is also a reason why I play so many times the other ones and all the time they deserved that trust. Today, if I could do it one more time over I would have started differently than I started today, but you don't know this in advance.

Yes, there's enough time, we play nine more games in the Premier League and hopefully a few more in the Champions League as well, with one more in the League Cup. What it is with him, it is also with other players. They are in competition with so many good players and that makes it sometimes difficult to make a line-up, but it always helps to bring performances in like this for him. But also for Wata; he came in again 15 minutes before the end and again he showed how important he is for this team. The others as well.

He trains really well, he does this and – I've said it many times about Wata and I can say the same about Harvey – hardly any playing time but just keeps on going. Then when your moment comes, you can show your quality – and that's the biggest compliment I can give him. But also the biggest compliment he brings to the team is he has just kept on going. Because I've experienced more than enough players that if they are in a similar situation like him and Wata, they start to do less and less. When you then play, you will probably not ask me why we don't play him. This is the situation we want as a team and it makes it sometimes difficult for me, that's true.

No, otherwise I would have taken him because this was the most important game of the week, like I told you – and the first of three finals. So, if he would have been able then I would have definitely had him on the bench, but unfortunately he wasn't. I do hope the next two finals we will play a bit better than the first one.

You have to accept cookies in order to view this content on our site.