Jarell Quansah will still be given consideration for Liverpool U21s games, but Jurgen Klopp said he had “no doubt” he was ready to start in the Europa League.
When Quansah was reinstated to the starting lineup for Liverpool’s Group E match against Union SG, he and Ibrahima Konate put on a mature performance.
The 20-year-old played a significant role throughout, making several crucial saves in the closing minutes before Diogo Jota added to Ryan Gravenberch’s goal to secure a 2-0 victory.
During the post-game news conference, Klopp mentioned Quansah’s struggle with the pacy, physical threat of striker Kevin Rodriguez, saying he had “no doubt” Quansah was prepared.
He told journalists, “That’s part of development. If you are not ready for [physical battles] then it’s difficult to play, to be honest, in adult football
“He’s still young, we have a really good football team together, it means he will get minutes and he will play U21s as well.
“But it’s nice to see. It’s a joy to watch his development since he’s properly with us.
“He’s a really good footballer, on the ball he’s outstanding.
“The chance for Mo in the first half, he would have got the assist. It was top defending, really quick thinking, stepping into it.
“He probably feels rather good, I would say tonight. Rightly so.”
Only Alisson and Mohamed Salah remained in Klopp’s lineup after the 2-1 loss against Tottenham on Saturday. Klopp made nine changes to his team.
He was told that there isn’t much of a drop-off between his first-choice and rotated XIs, but he didn’t want to overstate his depth.
He clarified, “I said it before, always when you speak about these kinds of things, a week later we miss five players
“This time we spoke so many times, everybody told me ‘five strikers, plus a talent [in Ben Doak], fantastic’.
“For the weekend we have three, and one (Cody Gakpo) is out for a while and the other (Jota), OK is back again [afterwards], but that’s how it is.
“That is what we require.
“How can we be standing here without a team change and not be experiencing an injury crisis—which we do not now have, hoping it continues to be so?
“We have the exact number of players we need for four contests, and I’m incredibly pleased with that. Absolutely.
“But tonight, we made nine changes; if Caoimhin [Kelleher] had been able to play, it would have been ten.
“Good, significant, and essential since we participate in four tournaments.”