In the aftermath of Liverpool‘s draw with Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, Jurgen Klopp sat in the press conference room at Old Trafford and responded to a question I asked him about Jarell Quansah and the strength of character his young centre back had shown after he made a rare mistake that had led to a second-half equaliser for Erik ten Hag‘s side.
Klopp spoke well about Quansah, as one would expect. Some of his team-mates, Virgil van Dijk included, had already rubbished the idea that Quansah should shoulder any blame for Liverpool dropping points. It was obvious to most that if there was an underlying reason for Liverpool failing to win, it was that they missed too many chances.
‘As a football player in the Premier League and playing for Liverpool, I have the bad news it will not be the last mistake in his life, unfortunately,’ Klopp said. ‘That’s how life is. I thought he dealt extremely well with it. But when our idols in the past made these kinds of mistakes, there was no social media so I hope he’s smart enough to switch that off.’
Klopp mentioned the Daily Mail in dispatches at that point, which was nice, and advised Quansah not to read anything where ‘they make it personal’. So, apologies for this Jurgen, but I’m going to make it personal. I’m going to make it personal because I think Quansah is one of the best things to have happened to English football this season.
I want to make it personal because I thought the way Quansah played on Sunday afternoon, particularly after his mistake, particularly when United players and fans smelled blood, was one of the most impressive individual performances I have seen from any player in the Premier League this season.
Jarell Quansah made a rare mistake that led to Man United’s equalising goal at Old Trafford
Quansah’s loose pass was punished by an audacious long-range effort by Bruno Fernandes
Jurgen Klopp advised the young defender not to look at social media following the error
It takes a particularly admirable kind of sportsman to be able to perform in adversity, to excel in adversity, to respond to adversity not by crumbling but by raising your game. And that is what Quansah did on Sunday. He made a mistake that was harshly punished by a brilliant piece of skill and then he raised his game to a level that dragged his team back into the match.
Whenever I am asked what is the best individual performance I have seen live in a football match, it’s an easy answer: Roy Keane in the second leg of United’s Champions League semi-final against Juventus in the Stadio Delle Alpi, 25 years ago this month.
United had drawn the home leg 1-1 and went 2-0 down inside the first 11 minutes in Turin against a stellar Juventus team that included Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids and Didier Deschamps, before Keane pulled a goal back midway through the half.
Then, 12 minutes before half time, Keane mistimed a tackle on Zidane and was booked. He knew in that instant that the yellow card would rule him out of the final in Barcelona, should United get there. Many players would have crumbled. Keane did not.
Instead, Keane played like a superhuman. He was everywhere. He tore into Juventus like a dervish. He ran and ran as if there was no tomorrow. He urged his team-mates forward. He was their inspiration in the most testing of circumstances. United equalised a minute after his booking and went on to win the game 3-2.
I’d put what Quansah did on Sunday in the same category. The game wasn’t as important as a Champions League semi-final but it was probably the biggest match the 21-year-old from Warrington – who was out on loan at Bristol Rovers last season and was making just his 11th Premier League appearance at the weekend – has ever played in. There was an awful lot riding on it.
And for Quansah to make that mistake – a mistake that could have been innocuous were it not for the instinctive brilliance of Bruno Fernandes, who chipped Caoimhin Kelleher from 45 yards – and for him to respond in the way that he did, marks him out as a special player who deserves only praise for his performance at Old Trafford.
He was flawless after that mistake, just as he had been before it. He is the most elegant of centre halves, the personification of grace under pressure, a lad who plays with a maturity beyond his years and who could easily be a mainstay of the England defence for years to come.
Quansah raised his game after the setback in a similar fashion to Roy Keane against Juventus
Keane was booked against Juventus in 1999 ruled him out of the Champions League final
Keane produced a superhuman display after his personal setback to lead Man United to victory
Few have talked about him as a contender for Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Euros in Germany this summer. They should.
When Liverpool seemed to be sliding towards defeat against United, it was Quansah who broke up the beginnings of a counter-attack, glided past a lunging challenge and began the move that led to Harvey Elliott being brought down in the area for the late penalty converted by Mohamed Salah.
I watched him when the final whistle blew and he put his head in his hands and pulled the collar of his shirt up over his face as far as it would go. However much others consoled him, it was clear he felt the weight of responsibility for Liverpool’s failure to beat a team that they had dominated.
There was no need. The opposite, in fact. Quansah represents the best of Liverpool this season. He represents everything that has been good about a season that was supposed to have been about transition and modest progress and which has turned into a thrilling contribution to a three-way title race.
On Sunday, Quansah was a symbol of the resilience and the youthful hope and the potential and the emotion that has driven Liverpool on and on and on this season when, at almost every turn, people have expected them to leave the stage to Manchester City and Arsenal. The way he played, the way he responded, tells you that Liverpool are not for wilting.
On Sunday, his mistake only served to highlight how good he is because it was so damned unusual. There is no quit in Quansah. A man who responds to adversity the way he responded is destined for even greater things.
Quansah felt responsibility for the draw but represents the best of Liverpool this season
PGA Tour’s objections to LIV are being undermined
There will be much vilification of LIV Golf and LIV golfers this week as the Masters gets into full swing later this week.
However, it is hard to be too outraged when it has long been evident that golf’s objection to the breakaway tour has very little to do with scruples about the human rights record of the Saudi Arabian state that funds it and everything to do with the threat LIV poses to its economic model.
The more the PGA Tour reacts to LIV’s incursions, the more its objections to LIV are undermined. And so ‘the creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.’
LIV golfers will face criticism but the PGA’s objections appear to be down the threat it poses to its economic model rather than criticisms of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record
White loses respect with Brighton antics
If he feels unable to give his best, or uncomfortable for whatever reason, I have no problem with Ben White deciding he doesn’t want to play for England. His choice and his loss.
I have more of a problem, though, with Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan brushing the Arsenal defender during Saturday’s match between the sides at the Amex, and White hitting the deck like a sack of spuds, clutching his throat as if he had been garroted by piano wire.
A lot of the respect I had for him disappeared in that moment.
Ben White reaction to an off the ball clash with Pervis Estupinan has received criticism
Will this be Rory’s time at Augusta?
I’ve got a hunch that this is going to be Rory McIlroy’s year at The Masters.
Then again, I’ve had that hunch every year for the last 13 years.
It was a particularly strong hunch last year. And he missed the cut by three strokes.
Rory McIlroy will begin his latest pursuit of a first Masters title on Thursday at Augusta National
Premier League scare-monger over regulator
The Premier League appears to have taken out online advertisements scare-mongering about the approaching advent of an independent regulator for football and trotting out its favourite, trite line about ‘unintended consequences’.
Its fear is real. In fact, the fear is getting more real and more urgent.
Maybe, one day, someone ought to make it clear to the Premier League that if the consequences of appointing an independent regulator in any way dilute the untrammelled greed of some of our top-flight owners, then those consequences will not be unintended at all.
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