Defender Andy Robertson believes Liverpool's return to their “enthusiastic” style was key to their turnaround against Southampton.
However, he admits he needs to improve significantly to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday in the second leg against Paris Saint-Germain.
The effects of a hard-fought 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes were felt in the first half when Saints' Will Smallbone capitalised on a sluggish miscommunication between Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker to put the visitors ahead.
A decisive approach from manager Arne Slot at half-time and a triple substitution saw Liverpool show a completely different face, and two goals in five minutes from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah (penalty) changed the game, before the Egypt international converted his second to secure a 3-1 win.
Sloth's style of play became much more controlled after Jurgen Klopp's replacement, although some of the previous chaos returned early in the second half.
“For the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half I felt like we crushed them and it was probably similar to what we've shown in previous seasons,” said Robertson, one of three substitutes who made an immediate impact.
“Maybe now we have more control and time to be more patient, whereas the 2019-20 (Premier League winners) team, once they got the ball, destroyed their opponents on the counter-attack.
“It's different now but I still think we have some moments and you saw it in the second half when we were really inspired and put pressure on Southampton and kept them at bay.
“Luckily the boys were in great shape and we were able to punish them.”
PSG, who dominated the first leg until conceding an 87th-minute goal from Harvey Elliott, are a much higher level team than the Premier League's bottom team and will not be as forgiving even if they lose.
That means Tuesday's game will be a tight one and Robertson said everyone knows they cannot afford to fall so far behind their game again.
“They showed how good they can be, an exceptional team – probably the best we've played this season,” he added.
“We are leading, which is important, but we can obviously do better than we did on Wednesday, that’s obvious, and we need to improve our game.
“We can't rely on Alisson to give the game of his life in every game. We have to be more persistent.
“The goal is to go through, but we need to play much better than we did in the first half today and throughout the 90 minutes.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
