It’s always a risk making definitive predictions as a journalist. Words, soundbites or social media posts can date very quickly and come back to bite you.

But in the wake of Joe Gomez’s injury last week, it seemed a pretty safe bet that Jarell Quansah ’s sink-or-swim moment under Arne Slot was finally here. After all, the Dutchman confirmed Gomez wasn’t likely to be back in the team soon and it was approaching six weeks since Ibrahima Konate was seen in a Liverpool shirt. There was no way he was going to come straight back in to face Manchester United.

And yet, when the team news came through from Anfield just over an hour before kick-off, Konate’s name was there in black and white. Suddenly that article about how Quansah had to take his chance and convince Slot of his worth seemed rather foolish just six days after it was published.

READ MORE: Mohamed Salah sends crystal clear triple contract message to Liverpool after Man Utd game

READ MORE: Mohamed Salah hits back at Jamie Carragher with 8-word response after contract message

• Liverpool player ratings, winners and losers vs Man Utd as Alexis Mac Allister superb but one poor

• Jamie Carragher tells Liverpool to make urgent January transfer decision and replace icon

But it had looked nailed on - even Liverpool’s official website asked the Warrington-born defender if he was prepared to face United. Instead, all he had to compose himself for was the icy Merseyside conditions.

Frosty might be an apt word to describe Quansah’s feelings towards Slot after what can only be seen as a snub. Konate had trained just once with the first-team but the prospect of selecting Quansah was so disconcerting for the Liverpool boss that he instead had to turn to a rusty center-back who hasn’t played since November.

Justifying the decision, Slot said after the game: “He was fit. If he wouldn’t [have been] then we wouldn’t have started him, then he doesn’t train with us. The moment he starts to train with the team he is fit again.

“Like you saw, except for the first game [of the season] when I chose Quansah, all the other games when Ibou was fit he started. So that’s the answer I think to your question. The moment he is fit, he can start.”

The Liverpool manager can dress it up how he likes, but there’s no denying that Sunday’s selection at the heart of defence was a damning indictment of Quansah’s worth in this rejuvenated Liverpool squad. The 21-year-old played in all of Jurgen Klopp’s final six matches in charge but his Liverpool career has taken a backwards step this season.

After starting in the opening match of the season, Quansah has been selected from the off just once in the Premier League since. That came amid a defensive injury crisis when he played at right-back, and Quansah is yet to start a Premier League match at center-back since that Ipswich Town disaster in August.

The defender has played just two minutes in the Champions League this season - at the end of the 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen - and has been limited to appearances in the Carabao Cup. They haven’t gone well either: an own-goal against West Ham United, at fault for a goal at Brighton & Hove Albion and fortunate not to be sent off in the quarter-final win over Southampton - suddenly it’s hard to argue with Slot’s logic on Sunday.

Appearances against Tottenham Hotspur and Accrington Stanley are likely to follow over the next two fixtures, but until Quansah is trusted again in high-profile fixtures, then it’s difficult to see where he fits into Slot’s new-look Liverpool.