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Making your Liverpool debut is a dream moment for any young player.

Isaac Mabaya got to live that dream in the FA Cup clash against Plymouth Argyle.

But his night didn’t go as planned.

Mabaya came on in the 10th minute after Joe Gomez was forced off with an injury.

It was a big opportunity for the 19-year-old to impress in a tough away game.

But just under an hour later, he was taken off himself, with Darwin Nunez replacing him.

It’s never easy for a young player to be subbed on and then subbed off.It can feel like a harsh decision, especially on such a big occasion.

Naturally, questions arose about why Arne Slot made that call?

Did he feel Mabaya wasn’t performing well.

Or was there another reason behind it?

After the game, Slot explained exactly why he took Mabaya off.

Arne Slot reveals why he took off Isaac Mabaya

The Liverpool boss made it clear that his decision wasn’t based on performance.

Instead, it was about avoiding a red card and adjusting tactics.

“I think it is a fantastic moment for every player to make your debut and for him as well,” Slot said during the post game press conference.

“But I felt I had to take him off for two reasons.”

First, Mabaya had already picked up a yellow card in a physical game.

Slot was concerned that another foul could see Liverpool reduced to ten men.

“It was a game with a lot of duels and a lot of intensity, and that’s their playing style,” he explained.

“They bring a lot of long balls in, so if you’re one time wrong then it’s a yellow again, and it was a game that was hard enough with 11, let alone with 10.”

The second reason was a tactical one?

Liverpool were trailing 1-0 and needed an attacking change.

“I felt we needed to make an offensive substitution,” Slot said.

“And the other three were Jarell [Quansah], Wata [Endo] and Kostas [Tsimikas], and that didn’t seem smart to me to take one of these three off.”

Slot also made sure to speak to Mabaya personally, knowing it would be disappointing for the young defender.

“I took that decision, and I thought I had to tell him because making your debut and then to be taken off after an hour or something like that is very disappointing for him of course.”

It was an unfortunate situation for Mabaya, but Slot’s reasoning was clear.

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