Arne Slot clarified his words on Jarell Quansah after the Liverpool defender was hooked at half-time last week against Ipswich.
The Reds boss took the defender off and said it was down to the amount of duels the player lost against the newly-promoted side in the 2-0 win.
It looked like a ruthless move from the Dutchman in his first competitive game in charge but now he has insisted it wasn’t so harsh by swapping him for Ibrahima Konate.
Slot said: “What I said was he did NOT lose every duel. But he lost one or two important ones. What has been told to me is that I said he lost every duel which he did not do.
“I said to the team, it was not about Jarell. We as a team did not do well. At that time, the only threat from Ipswich was (Liam) Delap and he won one or two important duels.
“I was trying to get that strength out of their team by bringing in Ibou.”
Slot also revealed Quansah will need to be assessed ahead of Sunday’s visit of Brentford after picking up an injury in training on Tuesday. But the Kop boss insists he was impressed by how he reacted to being subbed off at half-time.
He said: “He reacted in a way you would expect a player to react. I spoke to him immediately after the game and again on Sunday, the day after.
“At the end of that conversation he asked if he could train on Sunday. Normally he should have done recovery that day but he asked to train. On Tuesday, he picked up a bit of an injury so could not train on Wednesday so let’s see if he can train today.
“He reacted in the way every player should. I don’t think there should be that much into it.
Meanwhile, Slot is not expecting Joe Gomez to leave before the end of the window but accepts anything can happen. He said: “At this moment I am expecting everyone to be here but you are maybe even longer in football than me so know.”
Gomez did not travel to Ipswich on Saturday as he ponders his future but Slot revealed the decision was also down to his fitness. The England defender spent the summer at the Euros but did not feature for the Three Lions in the tournament.
Asked about where his focus is, Slot said: “He has been in the right place for weeks. He has worked really hard since he came back.
“He didn’t play a lot in the Euros and when he came back the first sessions we had to manage his load. But this week he had a good week. He is one of the players that I see new things from and learn from him. It has been a good week for him.”