He felt Jones’ composure on the ball helped Liverpool dictate play and create more chances in the second half.
Slot added that the adjustment was necessary to counter Villa’s intensity and improve the team’s overall balance in the 2-2 draw.
He stated post-game: “Result-wise, going 2-1 in at half-time, you could say it didn’t work. Performance-wise, it worked really, really, really well because we totally did not deserve to go in 2-1 down at half-time – again, in my opinion. The reason why we did this is because Lucho (Luis Diaz) played three games in seven days. I played him at Plymouth because I knew I had Cody (Gakpo) so I could switch them around if needed but then Cody got injured at Everton, he got a big knock, and then all of a sudden you have only one winger left.
“So, that’s why for today we felt this could work and I felt it did if you look at the amount of chances we created and how we played the game. But result-wise you never know if you would have done it differently what might have happened but it wasn’t smart to play Lucho 90 minutes again.
“The same way I had to take out Jota and Trent (in the second half), both coming back from injuries. Jota hasn’t played for four or five months, it is his second start now after four or five months. So yeah, you have to take care of them, especially in a period of time where you play so many games.”