A round-up of the latest Liverpool news as Arne Slot reveals why he substituted Jarell Quansah at Ipswich Town, where two Reds players were left stunned by a teammate.
Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna praises ‘ruthless’ Liverpool
Ipswich Town lost 2-0 to Liverpool on their return to the Premier League after 22 years, and boss Kieran McKenna saw one clear reason why. Goals from Diogo Jota (60’) and Mohamed Salah (65’) in quick fire in the second half saw the Reds upset the Tractor Boys’ comeback.
The last few seasons have seen Ipswich record a meteoric rise under McKenna, who took his Portman Road gems from League One to the Premier League with back-to-back promotions. But Liverpool showed Ipswich and McKenna how it takes just one yard to make a difference.
McKenna believes Liverpool showed Ipswich that the Premier League will be a ruthless test, even when they make few mistakes, if the Tractor Boys give opposing sides any leeway. The season-opener on Saturday saw Liverpool win after sending five of their 18 shots on target.
McKenna told TNT Sports: “Liverpool, the quality of the execution of the two goals, the first goal especially. We did not do that many things wrong but we were one or two yards off on our pressure in a couple of different positions, and that’s how ruthless it can be.”
Read more about what McKenna thought about Liverpool’s display at Ipswich, here.
Virgil van Dijk and Luis Diaz praise Dominik Szoboszlai’s display at Ipswich
Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai impressed teammate Luis Diaz plus captain Virgil van Dijk in Saturday’s 2-0 win against Ipswich Town. The 23-year-old helped get the Arne Slot era on Merseyside off to the ideal start by coming alive following half-time away at Portman Road.
Szoboszlai was far from the star of the show in the opening half outside of having one shot blocked for a corner. But the Hungary skipper found his groove after the break and, thanks to a deflection off Leif Davis, played Mohamed Salah through to bag the Reds’ second goal.
Davis failing to prevent the pass from reaching Salah meant Szoboszlai was not awarded the assist. But he finished the game with three key passes, the joint most in the match, and had three shots, only Salah took more with four. Ipswich aces blocked all of Szoboszlai’s shots.
What Szoboszlai showed in the second half at Ipswich impressed Liverpool duo Van Dijk and Diaz, too. After the 45-cap playmaker posted on Instagram about his joy at a ‘proper start of the season’, Van Dijk replied with the fire emoji whilst Diaz opted for the magic wand emoji.
Read more about what Van Dijk and Diaz thought about Szoboszlai’s game at Ipswich, here.
Arne Slot admits Jarell Quansah ‘lost too many duels’ at Ipswich Town
New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has admitted that Jarell Quansah ‘lost too many duels’ at Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Dutchman believes the defender was not the only player to struggle at Portman Road, but his display necessitated making the substitution at half-time.
Quansah had started the season opener beside Virgil van Dijk but found his number shown at the break. Slot felt Liverpool needed a presence like Ibrahima Konate at the back to cope with Ipswich’s long balls. He did not feel Quansah was adapting well up against Liam Delap.
Slot told TNT Sports: “The first thing I said was that we don’t have to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels. It’s not that Jarell lost every duel, many of us lost too many duels. But we needed Ibou Konate to win the long balls in the air from their number nine.”
Quansah contested four ground duels and four aerial duels during the first half at Ipswich on Saturday. But the Liverpool talent only won two of each, while Konate would come on at the break for the 21-year-old and he won three of his four aerial duels plus his only ground duel.
Read more about what Slot had to say about Quansah’s display against Ipswich, here.
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