Quansah to remind some of us just how good JQ can be. He went from 1 to 100MPH with his emergence last season. From league 1 to earning a regular spot under Klopp, doesn’t happen to a lot of young players. A shaky 10min spell at Brighton and being subbed off at the break when the score was 0-0 isn’t going to distort my memory.
Was it a way of getting a message? Or was it simply an intervention to get a hold in the game, and Konaté simply being superior in those matches after? Don’t forget, Konaté came back to pre-season later than Quansah did.
Both… I get the feeling Q was not following specific instructions laid out to him from AS - Others in the team were probably as guilty of the same crime… with Q it was double edged… learn a lesson from it + improve the team from that point forward
A and R could be accused as well, though G, M and S are in tune. Wonder if M was still here, would him and L be on board? As for H!!
2 Likes
Game time in the way he was used today might be beneficial. Question is could he be used on the left against lesser of teams.
1 Like
Gomez on the left, trent on the right. I think will be like that next time.
In another game, if we have to start with Gomez and Quansah in defence (which is bound to happen soon), it might be the opposite. Gomez at full back (right or left), Quansah at CB. Yesterday it was maybe late enough in the game to switch them and have someone different and not up to speed centrally. So Quansah probably had instructions just to not let anything past him in defence and keep it simple.
1 Like
Probably. For this game specifically, there is an argument you want to make as few changes at the back as possible and so simply having Quansah replace Trent at RB was less disruptive. But it was still an eyebrow raising move given the 1-1 ability of Doku being something you wouldn’t ordinarily want to expose a CB to, but he did fine. Encouraging stuff.
He’d better be careful or he’s going to become the next Gomez…
1 Like
Quansah played a fairly significant amount of RB at U18 and U21 level also, which I’m sure the training staff were aware of.
3 Likes
I wasn’t aware of that, thanks!
Didn’t like this Gomez at CB and Quansah at RB stuff tonight. Especially since we’re really thin in defence right now. Down to 5 defenders and 2 full backs. And that’s without the needed minute management, which we did with Trent tonight (guess he’ll be fine to start against Everton, but Robbo might not be). So I think it would be better to have Gomez as the first one of the two covering at both full backs, which he has much more experience of doing, than Quansah. Or maybe Slot right now doesn’t trust Quansah enough centrally…
1 Like
Quansah was 10x better both individually and for the team when he replaced Gomez at CB. That was a fucking disaster of a performance by Gomez.
1 Like
Still, 8/10 times, that tackle is a penalty against Liverpool and at this level, an occurrence like that can be the sliding doors moment for a young player’s career. He got let off, so I hope he’ll use that experience to learn and get better.
He doesn’t exude confidence right now, though I thought he dealt well defensively for majority of the match in spite of playing with a yellow card. I think he still doesn’t fully trust himself - and maybe Slot doesn’t fully trust him, too - but there’s a player in him if he gets over certain mistakes he’s made on the pitch in 2024.
1 Like
Yeah, lots of diving yesterday, especially from the home side, but we got a bit lucky with a few decisions near the end.
Not just diving - I can’t recall a referee giving out so many yellow cards to one team for the first real foul their players committed, while Joelinton could have had two had the referee applied the same standards. Honestly, I didn’t expect our lads to finish the game with eleven players, so credit to Quansah and the rest for playing through that.
4 Likes
I can recall.
It was the last time we went to St James Park.
The game where John Brooks runs onto the pitch with the new PGMOL directive on kicking the ball away burning a hole in his pocket, books Trent for throwing the ball on the pitch to get the game restarted, thinks ‘right, that’s that done’ and proceeds to ignore Joelinton kicking the ball away on every single subsequent free kick against Newcastle.
I do not know how the fuck Joelinton gets away with it. He puts in terrible tackles and allows gets away with it. He seems to decide what is a free kick and what isn’t, and then let’s the ref know.
I’ve seen a few Newcastle home games over the last couple of years, and I think the way they are refereed at home is absolutely wild. It’s one of the most hostile atmospheres in football, and referees crumble in front of it. It’s doesn’t help where the away fans are accommodated at St James Park, which means the ref is literally surrounded by Geordies.
The sad thing is that I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with this, if we occasionally got the same home treatment, but it seems that PGMOL have nominated Anfield as the ground where refs have to prove they aren’t influenced by baying home support.
2 Likes
Why does he give me Rhys Williams feelings from time to time this year (even before Slot came in)?
Drop off in form, looks all over the place but more importantly it got clear that he lacks the speed required for the football we want to play.
It seems as though his confidence is gone and it’s been like that since the first day of the season. There was a mistake in every game he played this season (he was lucky not to concede a penalty against Newcastle).
That said, I’m not giving up on him, hopefully no one is. Progress and learning aren’t linear, a lot of young players have their ups and downs, especially the defenders breaking through at the biggest of clubs. He could use Konate coming back and staying fit, though, to keep himself out of the firing line and improve on training ground first and foremost.
7 Likes
No one is giving up on Quansah, but he has to help himself too.
He can’t come in a game we’re struggling with 10 players and get beaten as easily as that. He can’t expect to win Slot over with such weak displays.
He’s been an accident waiting to happen ever since the manc FA Cup game. Slot did him no favours by subbing in the halftime against Ipswich, but ultimately it’s up to him to get past his confidence issues.
2 Likes