Arne Slot 'feels really sorry' for Trey Nyoni in admission over Liverpool treatment

Trey Nyoni was only handed a cameo off the bench in Liverpool's 4-1 FA Cup win over Barnsley, with Arne Slot admitting he may have made a mistake with the teenager

Trey Nyoni with Liverpool boss Arne Slot(Image: Getty Images)

Arne Slot has admitted he feels sorry for Trey Nyoni after only giving the youngster a cameo off the bench in Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against Barnsley.

Although the Reds secured their safe passage to the fourth round with a 4-1 win, the scoreline perhaps flattered them. Slot’s side made much harder work of their League One opponents than expected, causing their own problems after letting the Tykes back into the game.

After Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong had put Liverpool 2-0 up, the former inexplicably gifted the visitors a goal just before half-time to leave some life in the tie. Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike would eventually go on to add some gloss to the victory after coming off the bench.

But with the game still in the balance, Slot chose not to introduce 18-year-old Nyoni until the 88th minute, after Wirtz had all but wrapped up the win. The Liverpool boss has admitted he wanted to give the midfielder more playing time, given he has had to remain patient for his opportunities this season.

Nyoni has been a regular feature in the first-team squad this season, but has made just five senior appearances, while his involvement with Slot’s side means he has only made a handful of appearances for the club’s U19s and U21s.

Trey Nyoni has made just five senior appearances for Liverpool this season despite regularly being in the squad(Image: Getty Images)

“It's not for the first time that we are 2-0 up and give a goal away easily but this one stands out when you talk about easily,” Slot told LFCTV. “It's unbelievable you give a goal away like this and that’s why it was really hard until the end.

“I feel really sorry for Trey because maybe it was my mistake but at 2-1, I thought I had to make the substitutions to win the game instead of giving a young player who is training so hard every single day and is such a big talent the playing time he might deserve.

“But I thought let's bring Ryan [Gravenberch] in first and that all had to do with us conceding the 2-1 because usually a game like this should go to three and then maybe more.

“But we made it difficult for ourselves to concede the 2-1 and then the team gets belief again, they defend even better than they did at 2-0. Not a time, easy goal given away when we were 2-0 up.”

With Liverpool out of the Carabao Cup and facing fellow Premier League side Brighton in the next round of the FA Cup, Nyoni may find it hard to come by many more first-team appearances this season.

Slot has already indicated that he will be playing stronger sides in the latter competition this season compared to his first campaign, which saw the Reds go out at the hands of Plymouth after naming a largely inexperienced side.