Ibrahima Konate was called out by Chris Sutton after his poor showing in Liverpool's 3-2 win at Newcastle on Monday night.
The reigning Premier League champions escaped as lucky winners from St James’ Park thanks to 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha’s stoppage-time strike, though some of his teammates’ performances may have concerned head coach Arne Slot.
While summer signing Milos Kerkez was caused all sorts of problems on the left side of the defence by Anthony Elanga, Konate’s display was far from convincing as well.
The French defender struggled to contain Anthony Gordon in the first 45 minutes, picked up an early yellow card, and looked shaky throughout the clash, with Sutton labelling his performance an ‘absolute stinker’.
Chris Sutton Slams Ibrahima Konate
konate
Sutton, via Sky Sports, criticised Konate after his poor first-half display and pointed to his worrying form in the first two games of the season:
“Konate’s had an absolute stinker so far. He didn’t have a good game against Bournemouth.”
Konate, who started the contest alongside his usual partner Virgil van Dijk, made five clearances, won four of his six duels, lost possession four times and registered a 94% pass accuracy during his 90 minutes on the field.
The Frenchman was also unconvincing in Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Bournemouth on the opening day, as he was caught out in a footrace for the Cherries’ first goal and did not engage with Antoine Semenyo for the second.
Konate was irreplaceable for Slot during Liverpool’s title-winning campaign last season, when he made 31 appearances and was sidelined for six games with a knee injury.
However, the 'world-class' 26-year-old could see competition for places increase with the arrival of promising Italian centre-back Giovanni Leoni from Parma and, potentially, Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.
The England centre-back remains a target for Liverpool with days left until the end of the summer transfer window, having entered the final 12 months of his contract at Selhurst Park.
Konate is also in the final year of his deal and Guehi is being viewed as a long-term replacement, with no breakthrough in contract talks yet.
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