Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah asked to train on Sunday to make amends for his minor errors against Ipswich that saw him ruthlessly hooked at half-time by new head coach Arne Slot last Saturday.
The youngster was pictured with a gloomy expression on the substitutes' bench following being taken off for Ibrahima Konate at the interval. Liverpool were still level but Slot cited that his team were losing too many duels against Ipswich's lanky forward Liam Delap.
And Slot has revealed that he spoke to Quansah and the team on Sunday to make it clear he was not being singled out for criticism. The 21-year-old had not made his Reds debut this time last year but had a breakthrough season and earned a senior England call-up.
Asked how he reacted to this perceived setback, Slot said: 'In a way you would expect a player to react. I spoke to him immediately after the game and again on Sunday, the day after. At the end of that conversation he asked if he could train on Sunday.
'Normally he should have done recovery (sessions) that day but he asked to train. On Tuesday, he picked up a bit of an injury so could not train on Wednesday so let's see if he can train today. He reacted in the way every player should.
Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah asked to train on Sunday after making errors at Ipswich
New boss Arne Slot ruthlessly hooked the centre back off at half-time during the 2-0 win
'I don't think there should be that much into it. What I said was he did not lose every duel. But he lost one or two important ones. What has been told to me is that I said he lost every duel which he did not do. I said to the team, it was not about Jarell.
'We as a team did not do well. At that time, the only threat from Ipswich was [Liam] Delap and he won one or two important duels. I was trying to get that strength out of their team by bringing in Ibou [Konate].'
As Slot hinted, Quansah is a doubt for Sunday's match against Brentford, who have this month signed two players from Liverpool in Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg. The latter's exit leaves Liverpool with four senior central defenders.
One of those still faces an uncertain future, Joe Gomez, but Slot hinted that he is expecting the Englishman to stay despite being left out of the squad for the trip to Portman Road last weekend.
Asked if Gomez's head is in the right place after being unsure about his future, Slot said: 'Yeah, it has been in the right place for three weeks. He has worked really hard since he came back. He didn't play a lot in the Euros.
Slot believed his side lost too many duels (above: Quansah, fourth right, challenging in the air)
Ibrahima Konate was introduced in Quansah's place and the Reds keep a clean sheet
'And when he came back in the first session he couldn't train the whole session so we had to manage his load and that was also a bit of a reason why he wasn't in the team on Sunday. But this week he had a good week in terms of load and how much he could do with the team.
'He is one of the players that I see new things from and learn things that I see from him, also combined with other players. It has been a good week for him and us until now. At this moment I am expecting everyone to be here (after the transfer window).'