Jarell Quansah told he was 'bullied' against Ipswich before brutal Arne Slot decision

Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Portman Road on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season will look like a routine victory in the record books in years to come. Yet as much as the Reds dominated the second half and fully merited the three points, they were not in control of proceedings in the opening 45 minutes.

Much has been made of the tactical and personnel changes made by debutant head coach Arne Slot during the match. The Dutchman delivered a sharp one-liner after the game, noting that: “We don't need to talk about tactics if we don't win our duels.”

It’s essentially the old ‘intensity is our identity’ line which Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders liked to use. The player who drew criticism for a lack of success in duels was center-back Jarell Quansah . He was withdrawn at half time and replaced by Ibrahima Konaté . A pundit has since suggested that the youngster was “bullied” by Ipswich .

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An initial look at Quansah’s stats from the match suggest that might have been the case, a closer look puts his struggles into context. Per Fotmob , he won two of his four aerial duels and had an identical rate for those contested on the ground.

While far from a dominant performance, it’s a small sample. For instance, Fabian Schar (50.2 per cent), Pau Torres (51.0) and Manuel Akanji (55.6) posted broadly similar win rates across the whole of 2023/24.

And we have to look at where on the Portman Road pitch Quansah’s duels occurred. He contested three in the Liverpool box – two aerial, one on the deck – and won them all. The Reds’ center-back lost one in the air just to the right of the penalty area but the others in which he was beaten occurred in the middle third or further forward.

Nonetheless, the whole experience was probably positive from an educational perspective for the young man. Former Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster views it from this angle, as he explained on his YouTube channel. “I think that’s a blessing in disguise for Quansah, I do. I think he will learn so much from that. He knows he has been bullied,” he said.

It will be fascinating to see who Slot selects for the match with Brentford on Sunday. Having won four of his five duels at Ipswich, will Konaté retain his place?

Liverpool.com says: Watching the game live, it did not feel like Quansah was being 'bullied' though Slot presumably thought otherwise. Older, far more experienced center-backs than the youngster have struggled in away games for Liverpool, so hopefully he learns from this and improves next time he faces a similar challenge.