Arne Slot made a rather curious comment about one Liverpool player when speaking to the media on Friday morning.
The Reds were dealt a major blow last weekend when it was confirmed that Conor Bradley would miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee injury in the 0-0 draw at Arsenal eight days ago.
That still leaves two natural senior right-backs in the squad in Jeremie Frimpong and Calvin Ramsay, although the latter has only played once for the first team in the current campaign, with the head coach frequently preferring to utilise midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones at full-back instead.
Slot strangely undermines Calvin Ramsay in public
Slot held his pre-match press conference this morning ahead of Liverpool’s fixture against Burnley on Saturday, and he indicated that Ramsay still has more to prove before being considered for selection.
The Dutchman said (via Liverpool Echo): “When someone is really unlucky with injuries, there is always someone who benefits, and Calvin is one of those. I still think I have better options to play but I am running out of them.
“He has shown in that one game, against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup, that he is good enough to be in and around our players. Then you have to wait for your chance. Sometimes you have to wait for a chance to show this to the rest of the world, but at this moment I have, in my opinion, better options.”
Slot shouldn’t be so dismissive of his players in public
What must Ramsay be thinking after hearing Slot undermining him like this in public?
We don’t doubt that the head coach has told that to the 22-year-old’s face long before now, and the proof of the Dutchman’s thinking is laid bare by the sparsity of senior appearances for the Scottish right-back, who Jurgen Klopp previously dubbed an ‘exceptional‘ talent.
However, it seems strange and unnecessary from the Liverpool boss to be so openly dismissive of a player’s first-team capabilities, especially when he was rightly complimentary of the defender’s performance in the aforementioned Carabao Cup defeat to Palace.
Having made just three senior appearances at Anfield, Ramsay is clearly quite inexperienced at the highest level, but every player in world football has to start somewhere, and Slot isn’t in a position to be disregarding natural right-back options now that Bradley is out for the season.
The Scot will know that he’s low in the head coach’s pecking order for now, but he just needs to keep doing his utmost in training to leave the boss with no choice but to take his case for inclusion seriously if (heaven forbid) Frimpong were also to become unavailable.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Barnsley press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
If he thinks that fine, but why say it is such a public forum? For me Slot is making it easy for FSG to get shut of him. The performances this season, and dating back to April, have generally not been good enough. We have no chance of winning the PL just half way through the season and an ignominious exit from the League Cup. Getting stuffed 1:4 at home to PSG was embarrassing and the guy undermines his players in public. Add in the standard of football we have to endure, no wonder the atmosphere at Anfield is flat. He has to be moved on in May.
Yeah. Maybe he wants the sack. He’s lost a lot of the fanbase. Unthinkable 4 months ago. I’ve heard rumours his refusal to trust youth is clashing with the board. Why spent millions on a youth academy when it’s obvious they have little chance of playing for the first team. Plus his tactics are alienating the fans. And probably players.
Wow, there goes Ramsey’s confidence down the drain! Slot shouldn’t say that in public about any of his players, That’s the difference between how a elite managers like klopp handles his player and this average of a manager Slot’s handling of players.
Calvin Ramsay has been at Liverpool for 4 years. Never played a PL game in that time. He’s had a series of unremarkable loan spells at Wigan, Preston, Bolton and Kilmarnock. Klopp never fancied him and neither does Slot. And yet the fanbase seems to think Ramsey is some untapped world-beater that needs to be starting games…..he isn’t.
Dismissing Quansah after just one half in the first game of last season and finally letting him go away – domestic and club player, centre back just 21 years old (now regular in Germany)? Insulted Konate with low offer at a time when Ibou was one of the best centre-backs in the world – Ibou lost confidence and is not what he used to be, and no, he wont stay in Liverpool. And now Ramsey?
FSG should hire Alonso and sack boring, slow-motion Slot. Slot is poor in man management, to say the least.