Liverpool boss Arne Slot was impressed by Jarell Quansah’s reaction to being hauled off at half-time in last weekend’s season-opening win at Ipswich Town.
Quansah lasted just 45 minutes at Portman Road before being replaced by Ibrahima Konate with Slot confirming afterwards he had been unhappy with the defender’s performance.
But the 21-year-old has responded well to the setback although he could miss Sunday’s clash with Brentford due to injury.
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Slot said: “I spoke to him immediately after the game, and the day after, and he asked if he could train on Sunday.
“Normally, he should have done recovery, but he wanted to train. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, he picked up a bit of an injury but let’s see if he can train today.
“I don’t think there was that much into it. Maybe it was a language problem because I said he did not lose every duel, but he lost one or two important ones and one was just before half-time.
“I said to the team the day after that it was not about Jarell, the team didn’t do well.”
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Squad shaping up nicely
Quansah was just one of several players whose attitude had pleased Slot last weekend.
“I’m learning every day about these players, about individuals and how they co-operate with each other,” he added.
“Last week, Sunday was also important because I learned and saw the ones that didn’t play on Saturday brought in a really good training session on Sunday and that is really important for the team.
“We know we’re going to need many of them during the season to play many game minutes.”
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Slot defends decision to sell Clark
Liverpool this week sold teenage midfielder Bobby Clark to RB Salzburg and previously allowed fellow youngsters Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to leave, the latter two joining this weekend’s visitors to Anfield.
Clark, in particular, impressed under Jurgen Klopp last season but Slot believes his departure is a good move for all parties.
He said: “If young players want to develop they have to play. Either you can play minutes or you’re still not there and there is competition for places. We have a lot of young players and Trey Nyoni is playing with us. This club will bring through youngsters all the time.
“Young players sometimes have to move if [Virgil] Van Dijk is in your position or Mo Salah. If they want to play somewhere and are not happy with five or six minutes in the Premier League then you have to let them develop somewhere else.”
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Slot believes Reds are on track
Slot was happy with his side’s overall display at Ipswich with the win coming courtesy of second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Salah.
“We are on a good track,” he said. “Quite a large part of the group have only been with us for three weeks.
“It’s not only about us, it’s also about what the opponent brings to the game. Ipswich put a lot of energy into the first half to make it really difficult for us. Either we stepped up or Ipswich were not able to bring the same energy in the second half.
“I think it was a bit of both. We got a bit more space and then you can see how well these boys can play.
“There’s still a lot of work to do but it was a good first step.”
