Arne Slot hands Liverpool defender clear pathway after ruthless 'kick up the backside'

Jarell Quansah would have been forgiven for thinking he had walked under several ladders on his way to Anfield for the start of Liverpool's Carabao Cup defence against West Ham United, such was his initial luck on Wednesday night.

The third-round tie had promised to be an important night for Quansah since he was withdrawn at halftime of Liverpool's 2-0 win over Ipswich Town on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

So it was against the Hammers that the defender d was handed just his second outing of the season as Arne Slot made nine changes from Saturday's 3-0 win over Bournemouth. And Quansah, who used his performances en route to League Cup glory last season to ready himself for the ruthlessness of the Premier League, was keen to catch the eye on his first Anfield start of the campaign.

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However, the prospect of the 21-year-old doing that appeared unlikely as early as minute 21 as he stared into oblivion at the Kop end after Wataru Endo's clearance had deflected off of him and into the back of the net to hand West Ham a shock lead. At this point, Quansah would have been forgiven for bemoaning his luck as he and his Liverpool team-mates prepared for the restart after the Hammers' opener.

But as has been the case in the weeks following his ruthless withdrawal against Ipswich, Quansah responded impressively to the setback. The centre-back ensured his side remained on the front foot as they hunted for an equaliser and more at Anfield and, over the 90 minutes, no player completed more passes than his tally of 105.

Operating on the right side of Liverpool's defence, he was also influential in helping Cody Gakpo maintain his strong start to the campaign as he regularly looked to switch the ball out to the Dutchman. And those neat, clipped diagonals allowed Liverpool's No.18 to get the better of full-back Vladimir Coufal long before he fired a brace in stoppage time at the end of the second half.

When on international duty earlier this month, Quansah spoke about how he came to terms with a "kick up the backside" so early in the season and insisted he would grab to take his next opportunity with both hands, whenever that may be.

"I'll keep grafting on the training pitch and that's all it is. It's never a nice feeling as a footballer to be subbed off at half-time but at the end of the day it was the gaffer's decision and it was the right one," he said. "It obviously worked because we won, so I can only focus on myself, improve myself, kick forward and move on to the next game. I'm staying ready for whenever it comes."

It remains to be seen whether his performance will be enough to dislodge Konate in any of the Premier League and Champions League fixtures before Liverpool's fourth-round tie at Brighton & Hove Albion at the end of next month. But after the brutality of Slot's half-time change at Portman Road six weeks ago, Quansah appears hellbent on ensuring his new head coach has food for thought when selecting a team in the coming weeks and months.

"I constantly told you guys how many quality players we already had. I think you all knew and that's also what we showed in the last weeks and today again that we have many quality players," said Slot after Wednesday's 5-1 win.

"What pleased me most was that even if a lot of new players come in they don't come in and try to have a good individual performance. They try to work really hard for the team. There was a lot of desire not to concede and as a result of that we had some good individual performances as well."

After a difficult start at Anfield on Wednesday night, Quansah once again proved he has the resilience to match his exceptional talent.