‘All over the place’ – Carragher and Sutton rip into Liverpool player after Monday night ‘stinker’ | OneFootball

Jamie Carragher and Chris Sutton were both critical of one Liverpool player who endured a ‘stinker’ of a performance on Monday night.

Although Rio Ngumoha’s goal sent everyone of a Reds persuasion (including our former defender) into raptures, Arne Slot will have come away from St James’ Park with much to ponder in terms of his team’s defending against Newcastle.

For the second match in a row, the Premier League champions gave up a two-goal lead to leave themselves needing diving intervention from the bench, and some pundits pointed the finger of blame at Ibrahima Konate.

Carragher and Sutton criticise Konate’s performance

Speaking on co-commentary for Sky Sports, Sutton called out the 26-year-old after he gave up an inviting opportunity to the Magpies in the first half, saying: “Konate’s had an absolute stinker so far. He didn’t have a good game against Bournemouth.”

Carragher also rounded on the Frenchman after the match on Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football as he said: “There are people for Liverpool who have made a really poor start to the season… Konate is one. He has been all over the place.

“I want my centre-back to go and win that [challenge on Dan Burn for Newcastle’s equaliser]. He was all over the place last week. He is more interested in grabbing his arm. He was really poor in the first half as well. He is not at the races at all.”

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Konate has been well below his best in recent games

Amid the arrival of Giovanni Leoni and the ongoing speculation over a potential move for Marc Guehi, Konate could do with putting in some convincing performances, especially now that he’s into the final year of his contract. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case at the start of this season.

He missed his header completely as the ball came into the penalty area for William Osula’s equaliser and also coughed up possession far too easily to Sandro Tonali in the first half, with the Liverpool Echo‘s Ian Doyle referencing both moments as he handed the Frenchman 4/10 in his player ratings.

It wasn’t all bad from the Reds’ number 5 last night – as per Sofascore, he completed 94% of his passes (51/54), won four out of his six duels and made five clearances – but he was found wanting in some key moments of the match.

Konate has been nowhere near his best at the start of the season, and a big improvement is needed from the 26-year-old when league leaders Arsenal visit Anfield next Sunday in a clash which could already have big implications for the title race.

The Frenchman is a rock at the back when he’s on form, but we haven’t seen that in recent games. Hopefully he’ll look more like his usual self in the grudge match against the Gunners, and throughout the rest of this campaign.