Arne Slot leaves no doubt: Liverpool 'needed’ Ibrahima Konate vs Ipswich

Arne Slot made it perfectly clear that Liverpool ‘needed’ one player to beat Ipswich Town on Saturday as they kicked off their Premier League season.

Liverpool's first half, by admission, wasn't good against Ipswich Town on Saturday. The Reds kicked off their Premier League season at Portman Road but struggled to have any control of the game by halftime.

Things improved after the break, though. Liverpool managed 16 shots on goal and scored twice - and really should have had a couple more, but Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota missed glorious chances (both set up by Trent Alexander-Arnold).

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Jota was the one who found the breakthrough, though. He got on the end of a Mohamed Salah pass for 1-0 - Alexander-Arnold, again, created the chance. Salah then made it 2-0, breaking a Premier League record in the process.

It remained 2-0, with Liverpool the three points back to Anfield. However, speaking after the game, Arne Slot made it clear that it wasn't any of the above-mentioned players who truly changed the game.

Instead, it was half-time substitute Ibrahima Konaté.

Arne Slot on Ibrahima Konaté

"The first thing I said [at half-time] is that we don't need to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels," Slot told TNT Sports.

"And that's what we did, not that Jarell [Quansah] lost every duel - many of us lost too many duels but I think we needed Konaté to win these long balls through the air from their no.9."

Quansah was the player whos started in Konaté's place and he did have a difficult time of it up against Ipswich's forwards. Konaté didn't struggle as much and it removed the hosts' out ball.

But really, it was the entire team battling a little harder that did it. And, admittedly, Ipswich tired and started to sit off a bit - that gave Liverpool a lot more time and space in possession.

Konaté did make a big difference, though, and it'll be interesting to see if Slot sticks with him against Brentford next weekend. That could be a different type of game, after all - and it's already set up to be on of his biggest decisions.