This season, Liverpool Football Club, like many other sides in the Premier League, have been swamped with injuries.
Currently, they have key players including Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota all sidelined until April, with Joel Matip out for the season and Thiago Alcantara injured for an unspecified time.
However, this has allowed outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp to give Liverpool’s academy players a chance to prove themselves in the first team. This season, Conor Bradley has been one of the breakout stars from the bunch of youngsters dubbed as “Klopp’s Kids”, with the likes of Jayden Danns taking his opportunity by scoring twice already in just four first-team appearances.
It was “Klopp’s Kids” who put in major contributions to help Liverpool beat Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final in February, to begin Klopp’s farewell tour in ideal style. They could well help the Reds win other titles, with Liverpool still competing for the Europa League and the Premier League.
However, football is not always easy and can often be incredibly unforgiving, especially as a young player breaking through. “Klopp’s Kids” have performed incredibly well this season, but there have been occasions where it has not quite gone to plan.
Jarrell Quansah's difficulties against Man Utd
Frustratingly, the above notion is something that young Liverpool centre-back Jarell Quansah can relate to. It was his mistake against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon which allowed their big rivals back into the game.
It was Quansah’s poor pass on the halfway line, which was meant for Virgil van Dijk, which Red Devils captain Bruno Fernandes intercepted, taking a shot on first time and lobbing Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher from just inside the Reds’ half. It was a superb finish from Fernandes, but a poor mistake from Quansah which allowed it to happen.
Mark Doyle of Goal ranked Quansah a 4/10 for his performance at Old Trafford, although did note that before his mistake, the young defender “looked very comfortable”.
Klopp himself had a message of support for the 21-year-old, explaining in his post-match interview he believed Quansah “dealt extremely well with it”, and ensuring there would be “absolutely no blame or whatever, not at all, no criticism. That just happens, he will learn from it”.
It was a frustrating moment for Quansah, who has made 27 appearances for Liverpool this season, and aside from his error on Sunday, has not put a foot wrong at the heart of their defence.
That said, after a tough game on Sunday, it might well be a good time for Quansah to sit out of the limelight on Thursday night, in Liverpool’s crunch Europa League match against Atalanta.
The perfect replacement for Quansah
If this were the case, it would give Klopp the chance to unleash “monstrous” centre-back Ibrahima Konate, as one football writer once described the Frenchman.
Konate, like many Liverpool players, has had injury problems this season and has missed eight games for Liverpool and France so far. Whilst Klopp preferred Quansah over his fellow centre half on Sunday, Konate is an experienced player despite being just 24, and has featured in a World Cup final already. It could well be the case he comes back into the side against Italian outfit Atalanta with that big game experience sure to help..
The centre-back is very dominant in the air, and standing at 6 foot 4 means he wins many of his aerial duels. According to Fbref, Konate wins an average of 4.02 aerial duels per 90 minutes this season, ranking him in the top 3% for centre-backs in Europe. This is only slightly worse than Van Dijk, who on average wins 4.29 aerial duels per 90 minutes, placing him in the top 2%, as per Fbref.
That is certainly a handy asset for Klopp to have in his centre-back pairing, particularly in knockout football, if Liverpool are trying to hold onto a late lead and are constantly having to defend crosses in the penalty box.
Konate is also a wonderful progressive passer, averaging 5.62 per 90 minutes, placing him in the top 9%. This is slightly better than his captain Van Dijk. The Dutchman averages 5.05 progressive passes per 90 minutes which ranks him in the top 15% of positionally similar players.
It is hard to argue against Konate’s inclusion against Atalanta. He is a perfect modern centre-back and compliments Liverpool captain Van Dijk perfectly. Combined, they make one of the best defensive pairings in world football and the experience they both possess could prove to be crucial as Liverpool hunt down two more trophies to give Klopp the perfect send-off.