Jarell Quansah or Ibrahima Konate - Who should start for Liverpol vs Brentford?

What a surprise, an injury for Liverpool in their opening game of the season.

That's what the majority of Reds supporters thought as they saw Jarell Quansah reappear in the dugout at Ipswich last weekend, just as the second half was about to get underway.

Many were ruing a setback for the 21-year-old, following what had been a far-from-perfect but adequate first-half performance against a side buoyant to be back in the Premier League.

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In the days since, it has transpired that Arne Slot made a tactical switch regarding Quansah, deciding to replace him with Ibrahima Konate and eventually explaining his decision:

"Not that Jarell [Quansah] lost every duel – many of us lost too many duels – but I think we needed Konate to win the long balls through the air from their number nine.

"That helped and gave us control. I don’t think Ipswich could keep up with the tempo in the second half."

It was a "brutal" piece of management, according to Gary Neville, in terms of hooking a young player and potentially affecting his confidence, but the decision paid off.

Liverpool were far better after the break and Konate was near-perfect alongside Virgil van Dijk, enjoying a 93% pass completion rate, making one block and interception apiece, and also winning four of his five duels.

In comparison, Quansah only won 50% of his duels and was ruffed up more by the physical Liam Delap, so it's clear that Slot was ultimately justified in his thought process.

The question now is who Liverpool's new head coach opts for in Sunday's visit of Brentford in the league, having given himself a selection headache.

Some have, perhaps fairly, argued that Quansah was hung out to dry by Slot, and the fact that he is the youngster in the team made it easy for him to be scapegoated.

Andy Robertson had a woeful opening 45 minutes, for example, having been given a surprising start in place of the fitter and more in-form Kostas Tsimikas.

Alexis Mac Allister looked off the pace in the early exchanges, too, while even Virgil van Dijk was more guilty than Quansah of producing one sloppy pass that put Liverpool in danger.

Would dropping the young Englishman against Brentford do more needless damage to his confidence? Or does he need to accept that football is a tough business and he is playing alongside some top-level teammates?

Because at the end of the day, Konate remains the superior player - one with 16 caps to his name for a star-studded France side, and who has been integral many times for Liverpool since arriving in 2021.

Last season, Quansah came away with more credit than his colleague, deservedly keeping 'Ibou' out of the team in the latter months of the campaign.

Konate's form became strangely patchy, and his injury problems remain a concern, but if it was the Champions League final tomorrow, he would, and should, start next to Van Dijk.

For that reason, Konate needs to keep his place after that strong second-half performance at Portman Road last Saturday, having stepped up impressively and caught Slot's eye in his first competitive game in charge.

This isn't a time for sentimentality, especially when you're up against this Manchester City juggernaut, and the simple fact is that a fit and firing Konate is better than Quansah.

That's not to say that the latter isn't a top-quality player in his own right - one with the potential to be a regular for both Liverpool and England over time - but he remains a maturing footballer and certain flaws were exposed against Ipswich.

Rotation is a huge aspect of the modern game, so both Quansah and Konate will feature lots under Slot, especially as the Frenchman's minutes need to be handled carefully - Van Dijk is also 33 now and shouldn't play every game - but there still has to be a first-choice centre-back pairing.

Quansah did nothing disastrously wrong last weekend and will recover from the disappointment of being taken off at the break, but Konate should generally start ahead of him, including when Brentford make the trip to Merseyside this Sunday.

Away from Quansah, this is a big moment in the 25-year-old's Liverpool career and a period where he needs to find another level consistently and avoid those frustrating injury layoffs.

Konate's potential remains great, making him the natural heir to Van Dijk in the Reds' defence, but now is the time to fully prove it.