The Reds earned a 2-1 win at St Mary’s to move into the semi-finals of the competition. Arne Slot’s side were heavy favourites at the start of the tie. Liverpool top the Premier League table and faced a Saints side who sit bottom of the pile – and sacked Russell Martin as boss last weekend following a 5-0 loss to Tottenham.
Despite Slot making eight changes to his Liverpool team – as well as leaving key men including Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk on Merseyside – they raced into a two-goal lead at half-time courtesy of Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott strikes.
Nevertheless, Rusk – holding the reins while the Saints look for their new incumbent – was proud of what he saw from the hosts and their reaction to Martin’s exit. “I think they were reflecting upon the change that took place, I’m sure, as people but ultimately professionals,” Rusk said during his post-match press conference.
“We just had to prepare for the next game, that’s what we all have to do, that’s all they know. It’s the only way forward – so they were fine. I’m sure in the background one or two of them were disappointed but ultimately we have a responsibility at any club to go and try and win the next game.
“The players’ commitment level and their receptiveness to how I was working have been second to none this week. Obviously, they were hurting from the other day. Without a doubt, they needed some form of leadership and direction but I think it was important for me to understand where the group was at physically and mentally.
There wasn’t much time to turn this game around and you can only work on so much, you can’t overload them with information when there’s change anyway. I’m really encouraged by the second half. That’s what we have to focus on now. They showed belief in themselves, they showed character and they stood up.”
Southampton were adamant that Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah should have been given a red card in the closing stages. He collided with Mateus Fernandes and it has been suggested a goalscoring opportunity was denied.
Slot did not think that was the case – but Rusk reckons it should have been given based on what he had witnessed. Rusk, who is the Saints’ under-21s boss, added: “I’ve only seen it at one angle, at the moment. You can get it, you cannot get it, that one.I probably need to see a couple of more angles before I’m a little more conclusive about my opinion. My natural instinct was that it was a foul and maybe we didn’t get the rub of the green with that so we move forwards.”
