Liverpool was permitted to make an additional substitution in the second half of its win over Southampton in the Premier League because of a rarely used rule.
Southampton defender Jan Bednarek went off in the first half with a head injury. And because that was a concussion substitution, that meant that Liverpool was given an extra substitute— because the Saints also had one.
In games where one team takes off a player because of a concussion, the opponent is given another substitution to balance things up. It is not a tactical change but a medically enforced one, hence why they don’t count towards the usual five. However, it would be unfair if one side was allowed to bring on fresh legs more than the other in the same game.
Liverpool brought on three players at half-time, potentially with that rule in mind. Arne Slot wanted to bring on fresh impetus but knew that he was also had three mote to use in the second half.
Andy Robertson, Alexis Mac Allister, and Harvey Elliott all came on ahead of the second half. Kostas Tsimikas, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai were withdrawn in a bold move.
Diogo Jota replaced Darwin Nunez first in the second half. Wataru Endo was then sent on for Ryan Gravenberch before Jarell Quansah gave Trent Alexander-Arnold a short rest at the end of the second period, coming on with one minute remaining of normal time.
“It was a bit of frustration,” Mohamed Salah told Premier League Productions when he was asked what Slot said at the interval. “His head was going for us. We were sloppy and slow in the first half. I don’t think we played good today. If you want to win the Champions League or Premier League you have to win these games like that.”
