Nobody in this Liverpool team is playing close to their best right now, but one player hasn’t been as bad in the last two games.
Liverpool beat West Ham United on Sunday, keeping a rare clean sheet and securing a much-needed three points.
The Reds then clashed with Sunderland at Anfield on December 3, dropping points at home for the seventh time in nine matches across all competitions.
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Florian Wirtz pictured during Liverpool's Premier League match against Sunderland at Anfield.
Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
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Arne Slot’s tactics have been slammed, while Virgil van Dijk is being questioned post-match.
But one player, while still not great, has been slightly less woeful in the last week.
Ibrahima Konate might be playing for his future
On the back of a 4-1 defeat to PSV in the Champions League, Jamie Carragher slammed Ibrahima Konate, saying he has been so bad that criticising him may be too harsh.
He said: “I mean Konate. Listen, it gets to the stage now where you actually feel you shouldn’t criticise him.
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“Because you feel, you’re watching something that’s not nice to watch when a player is going through something like this. I never thought he was top class, but he’s going through a nightmare.”
On the back of that display, it emerged that Real Madrid are not interested in Konate ahead of him becoming a free agent at the end of June.
Has that decision had an impact on the Frenchman’s form? It’s hard to say, but in the two games following Madrid’s moving their attention elsewhere, he hasn’t been anywhere near as bad.
Ibrahima Konate points during Liverpool's UEFA Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield
Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Ibrahima Konate stats against Sunderland are solid
Liverpool did not keep a clean sheet against Regis Le Bris’ men, but the goal was partly down to Van Dijk.
Konate, meanwhile, was by no means amazing, but we have certainly seen an uptick in form compared to previous meetings against the likes of PSV and Nottingham Forest.
Sofascore gave him a 7.1 rating against the Black Cats, and his overall stats were good.
Tackles (won): 3 (2)
Clearances: 7
Interceptions: 1
Recoveries: 3
Ground duels (won): 5 (4)
Aerial duels (won): 7 (4)
Dribbled past: 0
It comes at a good time for Liverpool, given they have no other senior centre-backs at their disposal right now.
But unfortunately, results are likely to remain poor unless a change is made at a managerial level.
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