“I think you know which one I mean” - Arne Slot suggests Liverpool star who ‘impressed’ him in defeat to PSV is unlikely to leave club now

Arne Slot has urged Liverpool to keep James McConnell amid loan interest. The Dutch manager was impressed with the midfielder's performance during their 3-2 loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday (January 29).

Speaking to the media after their first loss in the UEFA Champions League this season, Slot said McConnell could be heading out on loan to gain minutes. However, the Dutchman added that he wasn't planning to send the 20-year-old anywhere, as he had impressed the manager in training and the 3-2 loss to PSV. He said (via Rousing The KOP):

“At the moment, we have most of our players fit, so we will have this discussion tomorrow, me and Richard [Hughes], about these players. But there’s definitely one of them that will not go on-loan, and I think you know which one I mean… James McConnell."

He added:

"I wouldn’t say definitely but I liked him a lot today, so maybe the end result would be good to go somewhere and play but he’s also a player that hasn’t played much 90 minutes in the last six or seven months because he was injured for a while. He impressed me a lot today.”

Liverpool slumped to a 3-2 loss after taking the lead twice in the match on Wednesday. Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliot scored for the Premier League side while Johan Bakayoko, Ismael Saibari, and Ricardo Pepi scored for the Eredivisie side – with all five goals coming in the first half of the match.

Arne Slot delivers verdict on Liverpool's first loss in Champions League

Arne Slot said he expected goals in the match, as the two managers liked playing a high-pressing game that was bound to result in mistakes. He added that his players were not set up to play with high intensity on Wednesday.

The Dutch manager said (via Liverpool's official website):

"Like expected I think, eventful game with many goals. I think everybody expected that before the game, for two reasons maybe. One of the reasons I think [is] two managers who always want to press high, want to bring the ball out from the back. So sometimes you see then certain mistakes – but it’s always eventful."

"And for the other reason because both teams, maybe mainly ours, were not playing in the set-up that we usually do, so then you see in some moments that we defend in a way that probably is not expected if we play with all of our starters. But still in the end we were able to definitely make a game out of it, especially with all these youngsters on the pitch. So, ‘eventful’ would be my word to use," he added.

Liverpool were without several first-team players, as Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and others were left out of the matchday squad. They still finished on top of the table after winning their first seven matches of the tournament.