Arne Slot and Andy Robertson reacted to the mixed reception that Trent Alexander-Arnold got when he came on as a second-half substitute in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
The match with Arsenal was Alexander-Arnold's first appearance at Anfield since announcing that he would be leaving the club in the summer.
When he replaced Conor Bradley in the 67th minute, some booing was audible inside Anfield amid applause from home fans.
Slot pointed to the positive response from the Liverpool fans to his substitution as well those who booed.
"It would not be fair to focus only on the Liverpool fans that booed," Slot said. "If they want to, it's fine but there were a lot of people that were really positive about him as well.
"The good thing about living in Europe is everyone can have their opinion like in Liverpool so there were people who were happy with him, there were people that were not so happy with him.
“They clapped for him, some booed. Everybody is allowed their opinion and towards the end more and more people got more positive.
"For me it is simple, I owe it to the fans to play a team that can win the match. Trent showed why I brought him in because he had two or three incredible balls [into the box].
"There were a lot of people that were very positive so I'm not too sure. The longer it went on, the moment he took a free-kick, I didn't hear anyone being negative any more. He was the first to say he accepts the reactions of every single fan but he wants the team not to be distracted by it and that's what you saw today. Even when he came on and the reactions were mixed, the team was still ready to fight to bring the win over the line."
Robertson also added he was disappointed to hear the negative element of the reception for Alexander-Arnold.
“It was not nice to see him get booed but you can't tell people how to feel,” Robertson said. “That's how I feel about it and I'm not going to tell anyone else how to feel about it."
Michael Owen understands what Alexander-Arnold is going through as he was criticised after leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid, which is rumoured to be the destination of the right-back. But the former Liverpool forward was keen to put the reception Alexander-Arnold got into context.
“It wasn’t the whole stadium - 500 boos among a 60,000 crowd, you will hear them,” Owen said “That’s only a tiny percentage. There are millions of fans all around the world that will absolutely clap, thank, praise Trent Alexander-Arnold for his contribution. That is important to state as well.”
