Arne Slot's Jarell Quansah decision is a sign of things to come for Liverpool based off previous stats

Arne Slot’s decision to withdraw Jarell Quansah at half-time against Ipswich Town was bold - but history tells us that it may be a sign of things to come for Liverpool.

With the Reds drawing the game at half-time, Ipswich looked to be extremely competitive in the opening 45 minutes. Yet, by the time of the final whistle, Liverpool had become worthy winners. But that stemmed from his decision to bring on Ibrahim Konate to ‘win more duels’ to ensure they had a better handling of control over the game.

“First thing I said was we don’t have to speak about tactics if we lose so many duels and that’s what we did,” Slot told TNT Sports of his message at the break. “That’s not that Jarell lost every duel – many of us lost too many duels – but I think we needed Ibou Konate to win these long balls in the air from the No. 9.”

He went on to add: “I didn’t see them fighting for it in the first half. We lost almost every long ball, every duel, on both sides. In the second half they were ready and I think before scoring the goal we already had a very good chance. Then gaps opened up and you could also see we can play quite good football.”

It was a decision that shocked many with Slot quickly stamping down his authority on the team after Jurgen Klopp’s departure. What is interesting, however, is that it has been something of a managerial trait across the years for the Dutchman. In Slot's last two seasons at Feyenoord, he went into halftime either drawing or trailing 34 times. That resulted in changes at halftime (or earlier) in 16 of those games in which Feyenoord went onto win eight, draw six and lose twice. Often the players coming off were high-profile and he wasn’t afraid to make decisive and bold changes. To draw an interesting comparison, during the last two years under Klopp, Liverpool were level or trailing at half-time 49 times. He made changes on or before half-time on 13 occasions and Liverpool went onto win three times, draw six and lose four. For the German, a stylistic comparison is that Klopp would wait until into the second-half to ring the changes whereas Slot very much backs his decision making.

There will be other occasions this season where it won’t be working at half-time for whatever reason and it is likely we will more changes in line with the Quansah decision that may bring up plenty of questions.

Sometimes it will work perfectly - like it did against Ipswich - and others it won’t. However, it will take time for the team to fully become suited to his style given the undeniable imprint that Klopp left on this squad and the club across the past nine years.