View: 33% Liverpool player badly struggles v Brighton, Slot felt he was ‘Unlucky’
Jarell Quansah is facing a long road back to the first-team frame at Liverpool after what Arne Slot said about the “unlucky” defender after the 3-2 win against Brighton.
The Reds progressed to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday [30 October] as Luis Diaz put the final nail in the coffin after a Cody Gakpo brace at the Amex Stadium.
However, the tie turned into a nervous encounter for the visitors inside the final 10 minutes, Simon Adingra and Tariq Lamptey pulled the deficit back to one goal with Quansah playing a role in both goals.
Arne Slot addressed Quansah’s errors in his post-match press conference, as relayed by the Daily Mirror [31 October], suggesting the centre-back is firmly behind in the pecking order at Anfield.
He said: “If you play at a club like Liverpool you’ve got two quality players for many positions. And if you look at the way Joe Gomez played and also Jarell Quansah, who was maybe a bit unlucky with the goal we conceded, because his overall performance – from the both of them – I liked as well.
“So they’re in competition with Virgil [van Dijk] and Ibou [Konate] – that’s what you have at Liverpool.”
Jarell Quansah could find himself fourth choice at Liverpool
This season has been a stark contrast for Quansah, with the defender seemingly suffering from second-season syndrome at Liverpool.
The 21-year-old burst onto the scene at Anfield last year under Jurgen Klopp and proved a key player for the German following the season-ending injury to Joel Matip.
However, Quansah has thus far failed to recover from his half-time substitution in the 2-0 win against Ipswich Town in the Premier League opener and has been ultimately replaced by Konate as Van Dijk’s preferred centre-back partner.
Quansah has been limited to Carabao Cup outings on his road back into the first-team frame, but Liverpool have conceded three goals in the competition thus far – Quansah has been culpable for every one.
He scored an own goal in the 5-1 win against West Ham United at Anfield and, in midweek, he made one error leading to a goal [Sofascore] as he played a wayward pass across the backline for Adingra to pounce on and find the net.
Strangely enough, Quansah had little to do defensively at the Amex, winning 100 per cent of his duels, making four clearances, and blocking two shots before he was removed following his second “unlucky” mistake.
Vitezslav Jaros scrambled across the goal line to deal with Lamptey’s ambitious long-range strike but Quansah put his body in front of the ball and diverted the strike past the Reds goalkeeper.
His passing was slightly wayward, only completing 33 per cent of his long balls and losing possession nine times, but he ended his outing with 87 per cent pass accuracy in what proved to be a bad night for the centre-back.
Quansah must remind himself of his quality as he faces what will be a make-or-break battle to displace Konate in the first team at Anfield.
The quality he possesses has not disappeared overnight, but perhaps Slot should adopt the Klopp approach and continue to select him in the coming weeks to help him shake off the rustiness heading into a pivotal period for the Reds.
In other Liverpool news, a Reds gem proved a transfer call right after what he did in the win against Brighton.
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