Arne Slot has revealed what he told his Liverpool players at half-time to inspire victory over Ipswich, and confirmed Jarrel Quansah's removal was tactical.
Second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah saw Slot's tenure begin with a win, but newly promoted Ipswich went toe-to-toe with the Premier League giants in the first half though failed to take their chances.
Slot's new side improved markedly after the break, taking the lead on the hour mark through Jota, before a fine move was finished off by Egyptian forward Salah five minutes later to effectively kill off the Ipswich challenge.
Liverpool had a host of chances to make the result even more emphatic, but two goals were enough to navigate Liverpool and Slot past a tricky first game of the campaign.
Slot told TNT Sports after the game: "The first taste [of Premier League football] in the first half was maybe as expected because they were all on top of us, very aggressive. Second half was a joy to watch."
"[At half-time I said] first thing was we don't have to speak about tactics if you don't lose so many duels. I think we needed to win the long balls through the air. That helped and gave us control. I don't think Ipswich could keep up with the tempo in the second half."
Quansah started the game, and appeared to do little wrong in the first half but was replaced by Ibrahima Konate at half-time.
Asked whether taking off Quansah was a tactical decision, Slot simply replied: "Yep."
He added on his team improving: "If a team plays all over the pitch 1v1, 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."
