Jamie Carragher has questioned Ibrahima Konate‘s kind to start out the season, criticising the Liverpool centre-back as being “far and wide” to date.
Konate has struggled for kind as a part of a new-look defence to date this season, with there a significantly much less assurance in his capability to defend giant areas and stopping counter-attacks.
Talking as a part of Sky Sports activities‘ protection of Monday’s 3-2 win at Newcastle, Carragher criticised the No. 5’s position in William Osula’s equaliser for 2-2 and his performances on the entire.
That purpose got here from a Newcastle free-kick, lofted in the direction of the field by Nick Pope, with Konate crushed within the air by Dan Burn.
“There’s folks for Liverpool who’ve made a extremely poor begin to the season. Mo Salah‘s one in every of them, although he’s scored and received an help,” Carragher started.
“Konate is one other one. He has been far and wide.
“You need your centre-back to go and win that header [for Newcastle‘s second goal]. He’s going backward, however he nonetheless ought to take care of that.
“It felt prefer it was coming. You possibly can’t deny that, Newcastle deserved it.
“I need my centre-back to go win that. He was far and wide final week, he’s extra concerned with grabbing [Dan Burn’s] arm, he was actually poor within the first half as properly.
“He’s not on the races in any respect, and I completely shudder to assume the place Liverpool could be with out Virgil van Dijk, who has been completely excellent in these video games.”
Konate entered the summer time with uncertainty over his long-term future at Liverpool and that has not modified regardless of ongoing talks over his contract.
The Frenchman is a goal for Actual Madrid, who’re hopeful of signing him on a free switch in 2026, and with a deal for Marc Guehi being pursued it appears as if a succession plan may very well be in place.
Liverpool will nonetheless hope to tie Konate right down to a brand new deal, however his performances within the opening video games of this season haven’t helped perceptions.
A significant shift in setup can not assist, with Konate to date enjoying alongside Jeremie Frimpong, Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, Dominik Szoboszlai and Conor Bradley at right-back over two video games.
However Carragher is correct to be important of his kind, notably at a time when his representatives are reportedly searching for a pay rise to round £200,000 every week.
