Arne Slot reveals Why He Subbed Quansah at Half-Time in Liverpool’s Win against Ipswich
In a game where Liverpool secured a 2-0 victory against Ipswich Town, the spotlight was unexpectedly drawn to a decision made by Liverpool’s new manager, Arne Slot, involving the young defender Jarell Quansah.
Quansah, who had been chosen to start alongside Virgil van Dijk, was replaced at halftime by Ibrahima Konate, a move that initially sparked concerns about a potential injury.
However, Slot’s post-match comments clarified that the substitution was a tactical decision driven by a lack of physical dominance on the pitch.
Quansah, who had seen significant playing time during Liverpool’s pre-season due to Konate’s involvement with the French national team at Euro 2024, earned the starting spot over the more experienced Konate.
The 21-year-old defender showed promise in the first half but found himself on the losing end of too many physical confrontations against a determined Ipswich side.
Speaking about the substitution after the match, Slot was candid about his reasoning. “We as a team made a big change at half-time because we came out totally different to how we had come out in the first half,” Slot remarked.
He highlighted Ipswich’s aggressive style of play, which he admitted had caught Liverpool off guard. “I have to give credit to Ipswich as well because I think they were aggressive, they were not afraid, they were playing one-v-one all over the pitch to defend us,” he continued.
Slot emphasized that Liverpool’s struggles in the first half were largely due to their inability to win individual battles. “I think we lost far too many duels. They were very aggressive, which led to three yellow cards – but in a good way aggressive – and we didn’t cope with that well enough, in my opinion,” Slot explained.
The Dutch manager did not shy away from critiquing his team’s first-half performance, underscoring the importance of winning duels as a foundation for success.
“That’s what I said to them at half-time, if you want to win here then you need to go a step up in terms of winning your duels first and make a fight out of it, instead of accepting that every time we play a ball long that the ball ends up in our 16 again.”
Slot’s decision to bring on Konate proved to be a turning point in the match. “It helped us as well because Ibou Konate came in because he, from the start, won his duels against the No.9 and that gave us also a lot of ball possession and two goals, but we could have scored a few more, though,” Slot said.
After Konate’s introduction, Liverpool took control of the game, with Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota leading the charge. Salah, who set a new Premier League record with his ninth opening-day goal, assisted Jota for the first goal before scoring himself, ensuring a victorious start to the season for Liverpool.
This win also marked a historic moment for Slot, who became the first Liverpool manager since Gerard Houllier in 1998 to win his opening Premier League match.
With this solid start, Slot and Liverpool now look ahead to their first home game of the season against Brentford on August 25.
Arne Slot reveals Why He Subbed Quansah at Half-Time in Liverpool’s Win against Ipswich