The pundit called out our number 5 for his defense of Erling Haaland’s goal in our 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, saying (via Air sports) that the 26-year-old has been ‘missing’ in several games this season and has been ‘a big problem’ in away games.
It wasn’t the first time the Bootle native had taken aim at the Frenchman in recent months, having described the centre-back’s performance against Bournemouth in August as ‘absolutely shocking’.
Traore challenges Carragher for criticizing Konate
Traore felt forced to do so bring to X and expressing his disagreement with Carragher over the latter’s critical comments about Konate.
The former Malian international posted (with some grammatical corrections): ‘My dear friend @Carra23, nOrally I usually agree with your opinion on football in general, but this time I disagree with yours [criticism of] Performances by Ibou Konaté.
‘Last year he was one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League. This season all LFC team has underperformed.”
Carragher took no offense to Traore challenging his views as he did replied calmly: “That’s absolutely fine, my dear friend!”
Konate’s performance has been worryingly inconsistent
It’s not just the Sky Sports pundit who has been vocal in his criticism of Konate’s performances this season, with others also taking aim at the 26-year-old, who in fairness had shown progress in recent games.
However, the Frenchman will have been disappointed at being beaten so easily in the air by Haaland for Manchester City’s first goal yesterday, while he was also impetuous with his positioning for the incident, which led to the home side being awarded a controversial penalty.
Traore is right when he says the former RB Leipzig man was excellent during Liverpool’s Premier League title triumph last season, but our No.5 has not shown the same consistency in the first three months of the current campaign.
It doesn’t help that Konate is in the final eight months of his contract at Anfield, with speculation surrounding a possible move to Real Madrid, refusing to leave as he approaches a key crossroads over his future.
We have seen over the last four years how great the French defender can be when he is at his best. Hopefully he will show that more often after the international break. LFC will need him for this.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Man City press conference via Kingdom of the Head on YouTube:
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