Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, acknowledges the fans after the Premier League match between Sunderland and Liverpool at Stadium of Light on February 11, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)placeholder image
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, acknowledges the fans after the Premier League match between Sunderland and Liverpool at Stadium of Light on February 11, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Arne Slot discussed the recent form of Ibrahima Konate after Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Sunderland.
Arne Slot says that he is not surprised by Ibrahima Konate’s turnaround in form for Liverpool.
The centre-back delivered a monstrous performance as the Reds earned a 1-0 victory over Sunderland. Liverpool finally ended the Black Cats’ unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light after their return to the Premier League, with Virgil van Dijk’s second-half header proving the difference.
Runaway leaders Arsenal, second-placed Manchester City and third-placed Aston Villa were all held to draws on Wearside, with Sunderland’s style of play and raucous atmosphere proving challenging. But Liverpool were thoroughly deserving of the triumph and limited Regis Le Bris’s side to a dearth of chances. Reds centre-back Konate was excellent as he shackled Black Cats striker Brian Brobbey.
Konate has had a challenging season, having made several high-profile errors. But the France international has been excellent in recent performances. Speaking after the Sunderland win, Liverpool head coach Slot said: “I was pleased to see how we defended.
“Ibou played a great game against Brobbey who is always difficult to play against. Impressed but not surprised. He’s an example, almost of our season, he’s been so unlucky. He’s played games where he’s been so good for 89 minutes and then one moment ruins our game, his game. It’s not always about him but a few times that has happened and then everyone is focused on his mistake.
“But footballers make mistakes and not always the ball goes in. I was just asked about the last 10 minutes and I said the good thing was we didn’t concede a chance. Against City we didn’t concede a chance after the first minute until the 84th minute, then we let one in. So it was good to hardly concede a chance and Ibou was a big part of that, together with Virgil. But I liked the mentality of the whole team.”
Van Dijk also hailed the performance of Konate. The Liverpool captain told TNT Sports: "I think they showed this season how difficult it is to beat them and a lot of credit to them - it is a hard-working team. It is good to come here and for us to win and keep the clean sheet. A good match for us.
"Ibou was outstanding, Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] in front. Everyone was putting a shift in. Proud of the guys as they worked so hard."
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