Arne Slot’s public criticism of Jarell Quansah after Liverpool’s opening day win over Ipswich Town made Gary Lineker “nervous”.
Despite enjoying a 2-0 victory in their first Premier League game at Portman Road, new Reds manager Slot didn't hold back in his critique of Quansah's performance
Lineker suggested his predecessor Jurgen Klopp would never have done such a thing, while his colleague Alan Shearer theorised that Slot only addressed a younger player in such a manner - not Liverpool’s big stars.
Slot's first competitive 45 minutes in charge didn't go as smoothly as planned on Saturday, with his team struggling against newly-promoted Ipswich
However, the game took a turn after 21-year-old Quansah was substituted at half time, with two goals coming from Liverpool forwards Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.
After the break, Liverpool began winning their individual battles and played some stunning fluid football on their way to securing all three points.
The Dutch manager was refreshingly honest in his explanation of the substitution which appeared to help turn things around, highlighting the team's weaknesses while directly naming Quansah.
Lineker claimed that name-dropping a poorly-performing player was something rarely seen under Klopp, who left Anfield at the end of last season after nearly nine years.
Lineker
"It is interesting we were talking about Arne Slot and that change he made at half time,"
He then read out Slot's post-match comments addressing the Quansah substitution, which were:
"'The first thing I said at half-time was we don't have to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels, and that's what we did.”
"It's not that Jarell lost every duel, many of us lost too many duels, so we needed Konate to win these long balls in the air towards their No.9 (Delap), so that helped and gave us control.
“But they put so much energy into the first half, running, fighting, playing all over the pitch one v one, and I don't think they could keep up with that tempo in the second half.'"
Lineker commented:
"That's speaking out publicly about a player's performance.
“That's not something you would have ever heard under Jurgen Klopp so there's already a slight difference there.
“I'm always slightly nervous when managers are publicly critical of players."
Shearer added:
“It wasn't an experienced player though, was it? Not so sure he would've done it in that case,”
Micah Richards agreed with. Shearer continued: "
Richards
“It's easier to do it with a younger player than it is a big hitter and, to be fair, his decision worked. But I thought that as well Gaz when he said that."
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