Leeds United won an important penalty against Liverpool for a foul on Willy Gnonto.placeholder image
Leeds United won an important penalty against Liverpool for a foul on Willy Gnonto. | Getty Images
Liverpool continue to frustrate with Ibrahima Konate coming under fire once again.
Statistics can be manipulated to form any sort of defence or argument with Ibrahima Konate continuing to be something of a conundrum for Liverpool.
The failure to sign Marc Guehi in the summer and Giovanni Leoni’s injury on his debut has meant that the France international has been asked to play almost every game, despite being far from committed to the cause at Anfield. Contract talks with the 26-year old have been going on for nearly a year and a half and yet no agreement has been reached. At what point does the club move on and look for someone who really does want to player Liverpool? As Guehi did.
Ibrahima Konate continues to struggle for Liverpool
Against Galatasaray, Konate never looked comfortable although FotMob’s data makes his performance look like an assured one. He made eight defensive contributions, two tackles, one last man tackle, one block, five clearances, three headed clearances and one recovery. All pretty solid stuff and the reason why he scored a more than respectable 7.0 for his match rating. Konate also came close to scoring what would have been a scarcely deserved equaliser for his side only for VAR to rule it out.
This doesn’t paint a true reflection of Konate’s game though who has, as Arne Slot himself has said, is too frequently “at the scene of the crime”. Sometimes it isn’t about what a defender does, it is what they don’t do. What position do they take up, do they let the ball bounce, have they left a striker to wander in behind them, are they ball watching? The list is endless with well-known Red Adebayo Akinfenwa going as far as to say: “This is probably the worst I’ve seen Konate play.” Given some of his displays this season, that is a bold shout.
What has Slot said about Konate?
Slot has been asked about Konate on several occasions this season and recently perfectly summed up the Frenchman’s season, via The Guardian: “Ibou has had a very good spell recently. He had a lot of good games earlier in the season but then he was also part of the reason why we conceded a goal.
“His general performances were good but then a small mistake he made immediately led to a goal and so he was judged differently. But he is having a very good partnership with Virgil since I’ve been here and, just like Virgil, he has always been fit. Touch wood. These two are vital for us, not only because of the quality they have but because of the lack of options we have behind.”
If a centre-half is costing his team goals and chances on a weekly basis, it doesn’t matter what their statistics look like. Can Liverpool get better for less money? Absolutely. Which is why it is time to bid the popular big stopper fairwell.
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