Arne Slot has backed “unlucky” Jarell Quansah despite hauling off the centre-back during the closing stages of Liverpool’s League Cup win at Brighton on Wednesday. Quansah, who was making only his third start of the season, suffered a nightmare ending to the match that prompted a flurry of criticism on social media.
The centre-back gave the ball away to prompt the home team’s first goal through Simon Adingra and was then unfortunate to deflect home Tariq Lamptey’s speculative shot in the final minute of normal time
The 21-year-old was substituted immediately afterwards for Ibrahima Konate, who helped Liverpool see out the remainder to secure a 3-2 win after an earlier brace from Cody Gakpo and a Luis Diaz strike.
“I think Jarell played a very good game, 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,” said the Liverpool head coach. “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.
For him, it’s that last step maybe to make. He has already shown in the past that he can play a game without these small mistakes. So he is in a bit of an unlucky period when it comes to if he makes a small mistake, it immediately leads to a goal.
But if you look at his overall performance, I really liked what I saw. He was confident on the ball, also when we conceded that one. It was not out of ‘Oh, I’m afraid to make a decision’. It’s just by taking initiative, and these things can happen in my opinion.
“I like the way he played. He was a bit unlucky with the second goal as well. But for me, that was not his game.”
Having made 33 appearances after breaking into the first team last season, Quansah has had a frustrating campaign thus far after falling behind Konate in the pecking order to partner Virgil van Dijk
He was substituted at half-time after starting the Premier League opener at Ipswich Town and netted an unfortunate own goal in the 5-1 League Cup win over West Ham United in September.
But Slot retains faith in Quansah and said: “I would not say he is not able to play in the upcoming days or weeks. He is definitely in competition with two centre-backs that are hardly making any mistakes at the moment
But apart from the mistakes, I think he played similar to Virgil and Ibou, with a lot of confidence playing the ball out from the back and defending really well. For me it was a good performance but a bit unlucky in the end.”
