One Liverpool participant was accused of getting a ‘nightmare’ efficiency within the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Reds’ unbeaten begin to the season got here crashing down after a 98th-minute Eddie Nketiah purpose at Selhurst Park, with Arne Slot lamenting the way during which his staff defended in that fateful second.
That the groups have been stage going into stoppage time owed a lot to Alisson Becker, who produced three excellent saves to bail out his teammates throughout a rancid first half for the guests.
Two of these steemed from errors by Ibrahima Konate, whose Tenth-minute error led to an opportunity for Yeremy Pino, and who later allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to breeze previous him and discover himself one-on-one with the Liverpool goalkeeper, who got here to his staff’s rescue.
Konate criticised for ‘nightmare’ show in opposition to Palace
Martin Keown was scathing of the Reds defender throughout the first half, saying on Last Rating for BBC Sport: “Jean-Philippe Mateta is giving Ibrahima Konate a nightmare. Konate is making Mateta look world-class. Van Dijk can also’t get close to him.”
Chris Sutton on BBC Radio 5 Reside was equally crucial of the 26-year-old as he declared [via RTK]: “It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? I believe this season, they’ve [Liverpool] regarded lax defensively.
“I’ve seen Konate quite a few occasions, slack as something. [He] obtained there in entrance of Mateta, however Mateta simply pinches the ball off him, comes round him, one-v-one with Alisson.
“I believe he might go round Alisson. He doesn’t, he opens his physique up to enter the far nook. Alisson reads it; one other huge, huge save.”
Not Konate’s greatest day on the workplace for Liverpool
Konate had been having fun with a string of commanding performances for Liverpool earlier than in the present day, however he gained’t look again on his efficiency at Selhurst Park with fondness, having been given the runaround by Mateta specifically.
Ian Doyle gave the defender a lowly 4/10 in his post-match participant rankings for the Liverpool Echo, writing that the Reds’ quantity 5 was ‘massively out of kinds’ and in addition noting his yellow card earlier than being substituted by Slot within the 74th minute.
It wasn’t all dangerous from the 26-year-old, who gained essentially the most duels of anybody for his staff (eight), misplaced simply three out of 98 passes (97% success) and made 10 clearances, whereas he solely misplaced the ball 4 occasions from 117 touches (Sofascore).
Nevertheless, Konate will know that he was culpable of some horrible lapses within the first half specifically, and Liverpool’s margin of defeat would’ve been considerably larger have been it not for Alisson’s brilliance.
The Frenchman managed to bounce again from a few troublesome outings initially of the season to excel in opposition to Arsenal and in subsequent video games. Hopefully he can put in the present day behind him and play extra like his common self when the Reds face Galatasaray on Tuesday.
