Liverpool came away from another Premier League game with no right to be happy with their performance.
The Reds have been badly faltering of late as they limp towards the end of Jurgen Klopp’s time with the club.
And after humiliating themselves in the Merseyside Derby on Wednesday, they didn’t come out with any kind of fire to put things right against West Ham. Plenty of fingers could be and were pointed for the game’s opening goal, conceded to Jarrod Bowen.
Nevertheless, things did get a little better from there. Andy Robertson was lauded by commentator Ally McCoist for his second-half display and it was the 30-year-old who was really dragging his team back into the game.
But according to Klopp, Robertson wasn’t the only one who deserved praise. Speaking in his post-match press conference, the manager spoke out about one of his younger players, too.
Jurgen Klopp hails Jarell Quansah display
Having seen his team lose so poorly against Everton, Klopp had to make some changes to his starting XI.
Mohamed Salah was one who made way. And the Egyptian ensured that he’s the one taking the headlines after the game having blown up at Klopp on the touchline waiting to come on.
But another who could have no complaints to find himself on the bench was Ibrahima Konate. The 24-year-old was arguably Liverpool’s worst player in midweek and made way for Jarell Quansah at the London Stadium.
And though he wasn’t especially convincing for either of the West Ham goals to be honest, Klopp went out of his way to praise the 21-year-old.
“Jarell did really well,” gushed the manager. “It’s how it is as a central defender, you are from time to time around when goals get scored and that’s how it is.
“But he played a really good game and is super-important for us. I tried to do the right thing [with the line-up].”
Is Quansah Liverpool’s second best centre-back
It wasn’t just on Wednesday that Konate was disappointing, he has been poor for a little while now.
The Frenchman’s below-par form has led to calls from Jamie Carragher that Liverpool need to invest in a new centre-back this summer.
The Reds appear to have heeded Carragher’s advice with rumours that they’re in talks to sign Eintracht Frankfurt’s Willian Pacho.
Konate will obviously still be at the club next year, but there’s now a question of whether Quansah should be starting ahead of him in the three games to play this campaign.
We’d argue that the academy graduate has done enough to step ahead of his counterpart for the final weeks. Let’s see what Klopp decides.