Arne Slot shares the real reason why Konate was subbed off v Nottingham Forest
Liverpool can probably count their latest share of the spoils as a point gained in extremely difficult circumstances at the City Ground on Tuesday night.
The visitors recovered from a first-half setback, with Chris Wood opening the scoring in the opening 10 minutes of action in Nottinghamshire to give the hosts hope of a league double over the Reds.
Diogo Jota ensured the Merseysiders would go home with at least a point, however, after making an instant impact 22 seconds after replacing Ibrahima Konate on the pitch.
It remains to be seen whether this will be viewed as an integral point in the title race or a game to look back on with some degree of dismay.
Why was Ibrahima Konate subbed off against Forest?
There may have been some raised brows across sections of the fanbase after watching Arne Slot take off Ibrahima Konate in the 66th minute.
The decision was instantly justified, of course, after Kostas Tsimikas supplied the game-changing assist from a corner for Jota to fire Liverpool back into the game.
Our Dutch head coach admitted after the game in discussion with TNT Sports that the decision was purely tactical in aid of his side’s goalscoring prowess: “You need to be a little bit lucky with that [the goal] because we took Ibou out, who’s usually a big threat in set pieces.
“But we all know Jota can score a goal. Kostas has a good set-piece. So we brought them in to score a goal during the game or in the end of the game, but they really did it after 20 seconds.”
"I couldn't have asked for more. The second half performance was outstanding."
Arne Slot was delighted with Liverpool's response to going behind against Nottingham Forest
@Sports_EmmaD | @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/9uuFCYVi1J
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 14, 2025
Whilst the French international wasn’t perfect against Nuno Espirito Santo’s men (and he wasn’t the only one), fans can rest assured that Slot wasn’t motivated by a potential injury concern!
Now onto a trip to Brentford and, we hope, a first batch of three points in the league since our 5-0 hammering of West Ham in December!
Join our channel of readers on WhatsApp to get the day’s top stories straight to your mobile
The post Arne Slot shares the real reason why Konate was subbed off v Nottingham Forest appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.