Liverpool boss reveals how Jarell Quansah reacted to brutal half-time hooking against Ipswich with young defender undertaking extra training session

Quansah made his way into Liverpool's senior squad under Jurgen Klopp less than a year ago and the centre-back's stocks have quickly risen as he has become a key squad member at the start of this season despite only being 21 years old. He even got the nod to start in Liverpool's Premier League opener against Ipswich Town ahead of Ibrahima Konate. However, after a gruelling first half, Slot decided to hook the 21-year-old as he struggled against Liam Delap.

Slot has now revealed that he held talks with Quansah thrice after the match to ensure the young defender was not losing confidence due to the substitution. The new Dutch manager also revealed that Quansah asked to train at the club's facilities on Sunday, the day after the clash, as he was determined to work on and iron out his mistakes.

Speaking to the media, Slot said: "In a way you would expect a player to react. I spoke to him immediately after the game and again on Sunday, the day after. At the end of that conversation, he asked if he could train on Sunday.

"Normally he should have done recovery (sessions) that day but he asked to train. On Tuesday, he picked up a bit of an injury so could not train on Wednesday so let's see if he can train today. He reacted in the way every player should.

"I don't think there should be that much into it. What I said was he did not lose every duel. But he lost one or two important ones. What has been told to me is that I said he lost every duel which he did not do. I said to the team, it was not about Jarell.

"We as a team did not do well. At that time, the only threat from Ipswich was [Liam] Delap and he won one or two important duels. I was trying to get that strength out of their team by bringing in Ibou [Konate]."

Slot mentioned that the 21-year-old had picked up a slight niggle in training in the middle of the week and the England defender could be unavailable for selection on Sunday, August 25 when they face Brentford.