Gary Lineker says that he was left feeling 'nervous' after Arne Slot called out Jarrell Quansah following Liverpool's win over Ipswich.
The Reds got their Premier League season off to a winning start after claiming a 2-0 win over Ipswich at Portman Road in Slot's first game in charge.
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While the Dutch boss will be delighted to claim a win on his first outing, some of his comments have left some pundits feeling a little bit awkward after calling out the 21-year-old defender Quansah and revealing why he was replaced at half-time by Ibrahima Konate.
Explaining the decision, Slot said: "First thing I said - we don't have to speak about tactics if you lose so many duels,' he said.
"Jarell lost every duel, many of us lost too many duels. We needed Konate to win the long balls for the number nine. That gave us control.
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"They put so much energy in the first half, keeping fighting, playing all over the pitch 1 vs 1, I don't think they could keep up that tempo in the second half."
Asked whether the decision to take Quansah off at the break was tactical, Slot simply replied: "Yep."
Those comments didn't set well with Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richard though.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football, Lineker said: "Speaking out publicly about a player’s performance is not something that I think you’d have ever heard from Jurgen Klopp so there’s already a slight difference there.
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“It always makes me slightly nervous when managers are critical of their players.”
Shearer added: “It wasn’t an experienced player though, was it? You just wonder if he would have done the same with an experienced player,” to which Richards replied: “Correct, Alan!”
The Newcastle legend then continued: “It’s easier to do it with a younger player than someone who is a big hitter.
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“To be fair, it worked but I thought the same when he said that, Gaz.”
According to FotMob, Quansah entered a total of eight duels during his 45 minutes at Portman Road, winning four and losing four.
They included two ground duels won out of four, plus two aerial duels won out of four.
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He also committed two fouls when dueling with an Ipswich player.
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With Konate replacing him, it'll be interesting to see if Quansah retains his place in the starting XI when Liverpool next take to the field.
The Reds are next in action on Sunday when they host Brentford at Anfield at 4.30pm