RB Salzburg coach Jesse Marsch urged his players to be "ruthless" against Virgil van Dijk and dismissed Liverpool's set-piece threat during a passionate half-time speech at Anfield.
In footage posted online, a video shows Marsch addressing his players following the first half of their Champions League clash on Wednesday night.
Liverpool had raced into a 3-0 lead inside 36 minutes, although Salzburg responded when Hee-chan Hwang beat Virgil van Dijk before scoring just before the interval.
And Marsch wasn't impressed with the manner of his team's performance during the first half.
"Firstly, how many fouls have we committed? Maybe two?" he said in the dressing room.
"It’s not a f*****g friendly, it’s a Champions League match. We’ve got to play more physical and get stuck in.
"Be more ruthless against Van Dijk, we play with too much respect. Too much respect.
"Are they strong? Yes. But it doesn’t mean that we should be nice to them and don’t tackle them or fight.
"They have to feel us guys, they have to know we’re f*****g here to compete, not just that we’re here to stylistically going to try and play the same way, but we came to f*****g play.
Great insight into the half-time talk from Jesse Marsch in their game vs Liverpool.
— Darian Wilken (@CoachDarian) October 3, 2019
Interesting to note the emphasis placed group cohesion and re-aligning mentality before addressing any tactical components. pic.twitter.com/unNplaA25U
"We’re going to talk about tactics but when we step on to that field with more confidence and will. Now it’s us against them.
"Let’s f*****g raise our will, our fight. We’ve seen that they are strong but we can do better and breathe life into our game.
"Self-confidence, physicality, that’s what it’s all about. They are not so dangerous with set-pieces.
"Come on, we have more to offer."
The comments had an immediate effect with Salzburg drawing level at 3-3 midway through the second half, prompting their coach to sprint half the length of the Main Stand to join in the celebrations in front of the away end.
However, Marsch's actions were made to look embarrassingly premature when Mohamed Salah struck his second goal of the game to earn the Reds the points.
Despite the dismissive comments of the Salzburg coach, only Bournemouth have scored more goals from set-pieces than Liverpool in the Premier League this season.
