Brendan Rodgers admitted he was forced into making two changes at half-time as his Liverpool side overcame a plucky Oldham Athletic 2-0 in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
Iago Aspas scored his first goal for the Reds in the 54th minute before James Tarkowski's 82nd-minute own-goal saw off a solid performance from Lee Johnson's Latics.
With scores 0-0 at half-time, Rodgers introduced Lucas Leiva and Philippe Coutinho before throwing star striker Luis Suarez into the fray a bit later and he admits they were changes basically forced by Johnson's side.
"We needed to have more speed in our game and a bit more intensity. You don't want to do it (making the substitutions) but the last thing I wanted was the game to go to a replay," he said after the win.
"I think you learn as a manager. As you get more experiences you can either wait for it to happen or, if you don't think it's going to happen, you have to change the momentum of the game by making your subs.
"Coutinho came on, Lucas came on and they add that bit of intensity and greater purpose to our play. That allowed us to get better control."
