Interview'Excellent' - Andy Robertson praises Jarell Quansah after full Liverpool debut

Quansah, a 20-year-old Academy product, started for Liverpool for the first time at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday lunchtime and put in an assured performance at the heart of the defence as the Reds recovered from a one-goal half-time deficit to win 3-1.

“Excellent from the big man,” Robertson told Liverpoolfc.com of Quansah’s display.

“I don’t think many of us helped him in the first half, which, when you’ve got experienced players around, you probably look for help more. We tried to protect him but I think as a collective unit we weren’t as good in the first half, but he was very assured, done his defending very well and then on the ball he was cool and calm.

“He has got a bright future ahead of him but the here and now is pretty good as well and for him to step in at a really tough place to come, a really tough team to play against, and to put in that performance, particularly in the second half, then fair play to him for his first start.”

With Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold absent, Robertson was captain for the come-from-behind victory at Molineux and scored his team’s crucial second goal in the 85th minute.

See the rest of our post-match interview with the left-back below.

On Liverpool again producing a huge show of character to come from behind and win…

Yeah, massive for us. I think we have to say that the first half was below our standards and I think the away fans and everyone watching back home knew it: too many mistakes, they were on top obviously, put us under pressure, created a lot more chances than we did. But second half was a real team performance; we had to show a reaction, we had to be better, we changed the formation slightly, but I just think we came out with a lot better intent. The mistakes we cut out and we started being a wee bit more positive and created a few chances. Look, I think all in all the result was probably fair, I think we deserved the three points for what we did in the second half but we can’t afford to start like that in too many games, that’s for sure.

On the team being sharper and showing more intent after half-time…

The subs made a massive difference and we are going to need a full squad this season, we are going to need them to contribute and all the subs who came on today did a pretty good job of that. Everything just seemed a wee bit quicker, a wee bit better done, moving the ball quicker and not many mistakes, and that’s what slowly but surely got us back in the game.

We scored a great goal to get us back into it, 1-1, and then obviously we kept trying to push, we kept trying to be patient, didn’t try to force it and we knew our chance would come... probably not many thought it would fall to me! But [I was] delighted to be able to take it and get our noses in front and then Harvey’s finish was a good one just to ease the nerves for the last [of the] additional time.

On his goal and the superb assist from Mohamed Salah…

We knew they wanted to do quick counter-attacks so we had to be aware when the goalkeeper came out and caught [the ball] and luckily I was front-footed and played the ball to Mo. He had his head up and I knew if I could give him the option there then he would pick the right choice, then it was just about me making good contact. Luckily I managed to do that and snuck it in at the near post. I don’t score many goals so you have to enjoy it when they come and I’m more delighted that it goes towards a win. I am delighted with the contribution, delighted with the three points and now we move on.