Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool duo told 'harsh' Arne Slot has created new job for them

Rio Ferdinand has told Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Mohamed Salah they need to become mentors to young Liverpool stars like Jarell Quansah. Arne Slot placed his faith in the 21-year-old to partner the imperious Dutchman in the Reds' 2-0 away victory at Ipswich Town in their first Premier League match of the season.

However, the youngster struggled to cope with Ipswich's physicality, unpredictable movement and high pressing in the first half. With the opening 45 minutes goalless, Slot made the first big call of his Liverpool tenure by hooking the Warrington native and replacing him with Ibrahima Konate at the break.

In his post-match interview, Slot bluntly explained that Quansah was taken off because he was not winning enough duels against the newly promoted Tractor Boys. While ex-Manchester United defender Ferdinand admitted he liked how straight to the point Slot was, he urged the aforementioned trio and other senior players to support Quansah and any other younger talents in the team who are criticised by the straight-shooting manager – who certainly has shown a different man-management approach to predecessor Jurgen Klopp.

While speaking on the Vibe With Five podcast, Ferdinand said: "The Virgil van Dijks, the Mohamed Salahs, the goalkeeper. I think there’s a job for those guys now to get around the kid and to reinstill confidence and say, ‘Listen, we’ve all had this’.

“If a young kid got hammered by the manager or a loss of form, I used to take that on as my role in the squad to go, ‘Listen guys, we’ve all been there, we all lose confidence. I get hammered by the manager, but he wants a reaction now, he wants to see what you can come up with’.

“I think that’s important and I think looking back as a young player, I would like to see him get one more opportunity at least to go and rectify that situation and go, ‘No, I can be dominant, I can win balls, I can win aerial challenges and be dependable’.

“Now, obviously, there’s going to be a question mark. Is he good enough, is he strong enough and is he dominant enough? You’ve got Konate there and that is his forte. Who wins that battle between those two to become Van Dijk’s partner?”

Lescott also admitted he felt Slot's specific mention of Quansah after the match was "harsh". However, the defender also noted that Quansah and his manager may be worried about the fact that he struggled against Liam Delap, who is the same age as him.

The former England international added: "The only thing I would say was concerning is that it was Liam Delap, who is the same age. If that’s an experienced striker, I would be okay with that happening, because it’s new, you’re in the Premier League for your first start of the season.

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“But, someone who is the same age, I’d be questioning him thinking that might be more impactful than it should be.”

Slot will take charge of his first Premier League match at Anfield this Sunday (4.30pm) when Liverpool host Thomas Frank's Brentford.

The Bees will be quietly confident having defeated Crystal Palace 2-1 in their first match of the campaign.