Jarell Quansah gave a puff of his cheeks as he trudged towards the dugout at the Amex Stadium. As he watched the dying minutes of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup win over Brighton & Hove Albion from the bench, the young defender must have felt like he had been here before.
It was only a few months ago that Quansah was hooked at half-time in the Reds’ opening day victory over Ipswich Town, with Arne Slot later admitting the decision to replace him with Ibrahima Konate had been a tactical one. That 45 minutes at Portman Road remains the Englishman’s only Premier League outing this term and he will surely have been hoping his early withdrawal against the Seagulls did not lead to the same level of external clamour.
Slot was criticised in some quarters for his blunt assessment of Quansah’s display against Ipswich, though he was ultimately vindicated for his decision to bring in Konate as Liverpool went on to win the game 2-0. Once again on Wednesday night, the Dutchman’s resolution to turn to his No. 5 paid off, with the Reds weathering a late Brighton storm to advance to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
While Slot’s defensive reshuffle yielded the desired result, it also reignited debate about Quansah and his current role within this Liverpool squad. The 21-year-old turned in a largely assured display against Brighton but, inevitably, it was his late defensive mishap that grabbed the headlines.
With 80 minutes on the clock at the Amex, Quansah’s errant back-pass was seized upon by Evan Ferguson. Seconds later, the Reds defender was tempestuously booting the ball into the back of his own net after Simon Adingra had halved the deficit for the hosts.
And things quickly went from bad to worse for Quansah when he inadvertently deflected Tariq Lamptey’s strike past Vitezslav Jaros, setting up a tense finale on the South Coast and prompting Slot to turn to Konate on the sidelines. The Liverpool boss, though, was quick to namecheck his No. 78 after the match.
“If you play at a club like Liverpool you’ve got two quality players for many positions,” Slot said. “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.”
The Dutchman echoed that same sentiment on Friday, insisting that Quansah has simply been on the receiving end of some bad fortune of late. “I think Jarell played a very good game,” Slot said. “The only issue he has at the moment is that if he has a moment that is not perfect, it immediately leads to a goal.
That’s what happened in this game. In my opinion he was unlucky. I know you can’t judge and leave those two moments out because they were so vital towards the result, but he is getting better and better and better, and he was already really good
After sparking conversation with his decision to cut Quansah’s evening short on Wednesday night, Slot’s public endorsement of the young defender was perhaps important for all parties. For Quansah, who signed a new long-term contract at Anfield in October, it was a welcome reminder that he remains highly-rated by Slot and his coaching staff.
For the Liverpool boss, it was a glimpse of the man behind the manager. While his in-game prerogative is chiefly to get results, it is clear he was keen to emphasise his recent handling of Quansah is not a reflection of the centre-back’s abilities
At just 21, the defender is simply having to navigate some of the obstacles that impede almost every elite player at some point in their career. Last season, Quansah’s rise from academy prospect to first-team regular was a modern-day football fairytale.
He made 33 senior club appearances, displacing Konate as Van Dijk’s first-choice centre-back partner and even made Gareth Southgate’s preliminary England squad for Euro 2024. Aside from one conspicuous error against Manchester United in April, Quansah barely put a foot wrong last term and has only dropped down the defensive pecking order due to Konate’s imperious form.
When you consider the Frenchman’s chequered injury history and the congested nature of Liverpool’s schedule in the coming months, it is unlikely Quansah will have to wait long to be given another chance. Until then, the young defender must continue to put in the hard work behind the scenes so that, when his moment does arise, he is ready to seize it.
