After a strong showing against Inter Milan, Arne Slot praised Ibrahima Konate and shared what “the hardest thing” has been for him about this season’s form.
Konate has been consistently at fault for goals this campaign, with many calling for him to be replaced by Joe Gomez at centre-back.
On occasion, though, he has put in a performance worthy of recognition, Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Inter Milan being among the best.
After he conceded a penalty at Leeds, Slot admitted the defender “has been a bit too much at the crime scene,” but the coach’s comments at San Siro were far more positive.
Slot noted: “I think the hardest thing for him but also for me is to see that during large parts of the game he’s played very well, also in games where he was involved in goals we’ve conceded.
“Let’s take the PSV game. I think until that moment he played a very good game and that has been so many times, so it’s not a surprise for me that he can play well, but I’m so happy for him that he kept a clean sheet and he wasn’t involved in anything that happened tonight.
“He has also been very unlucky that if you make mistake or if you are involved in a mistake that this ball constantly has gone in.”
While Liverpool have no doubt caused many of their own problems this season, the numbers to back up what Slot is saying about luck to some extent.
MILAN, ITALY - Tuesday, December 9, 2025: Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot embraces Ibrahima Konaté after the UEFA Champions League game between Internazionale Milano and Liverpool FC at the Stadio San Siro. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
PSxG (post-shot expected goals) is a metric used to measure the quality of a strike on target and the likelihood of it being saved.
For example, a shot with 0.7 PSxG has a 70 percent chance of hitting the net, in theory. A shot that goes wide would be rated as zero.
Liverpool have been predicted toconcede a PSxG of 19.1 in the league this season, but they have actually conceded 24 goals.
This difference of -4.9 goals is the second-worst in the entire league. In fact, only Wolves have conceded more compared to their PSxG.
“And that is the situation we have been in for weeks, months really,” Slot added.
“I said something about referee decisions. Every chance the other team gets is a goal; every mistake we make leads immediately to a goal.
MILAN, ITALY - Tuesday, December 9, 2025: Liverpool's Ibrahima Konaté reacts to VAR disallowing his goal for handball by Hugo Ekitike during the UEFA Champions League game between Internazionale Milano and Liverpool FC at the Stadio San Siro. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“Again tonight we weren’t able to finish our first chances, but because we kept a clean sheet when we scored our last chance of the game we could win it today.”
It would be tempting fate to say Konate has turned a corner as he has played well in individual games this season already, Arsenal for example.
However, if the whole team starts playing with more maturity, it can only benefit the Frenchman’s form.