“It’s unbelievable” – BBC pundits rip into Liverpool player who endured a ‘nightmare’ v Palace | OneFootball

One Liverpool player was accused of having a ‘nightmare’ performance in the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Reds’ unbeaten start to the season came crashing down after a 98th-minute Eddie Nketiah goal at Selhurst Park, with Arne Slot lamenting the manner in which his team defended in that fateful moment.

That the teams were level going into stoppage time owed plenty to Alisson Becker, who produced three outstanding saves to bail out his teammates during a rancid first half for the visitors.

Two of those steemed from errors by Ibrahima Konate, whose 10th-minute error led to a chance for Yeremy Pino, and who later allowed Jean-Philippe Mateta to breeze past him and find himself one-on-one with the Liverpool goalkeeper, who came to his team’s rescue.

(Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

Konate criticised for ‘nightmare’ display against Palace

Martin Keown was scathing of the Reds defender during the first half, saying on Final Score for BBC Sport: “Jean-Philippe Mateta is giving Ibrahima Konate a nightmare. Konate is making Mateta look world-class. Van Dijk also can’t get near him.”

Chris Sutton on BBC Radio 5 Live was equally critical of the 26-year-old as he declared [via RTK]: “It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? I think this season, they’ve [Liverpool] looked lax defensively.

“I’ve seen Konate numerous times, slack as anything. [He] got there in front of Mateta, but Mateta just pinches the ball off him, comes around him, one-v-one with Alisson.

“I think he could go around Alisson. He doesn’t, he opens his body up to go into the far corner. Alisson reads it; another big, big save.”

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Not Konate’s best day at the office for Liverpool

Konate had been enjoying a string of commanding performances for Liverpool before today, but he won’t look back on his performance at Selhurst Park with fondness, having been given the runaround by Mateta in particular.

Ian Doyle gave the defender a lowly 4/10 in his post-match player ratings for the Liverpool Echo, writing that the Reds’ number 5 was ‘massively out of sorts’ and also noting his yellow card before being substituted by Slot in the 74th minute.

It wasn’t all bad from the 26-year-old, who won the most duels of anyone for his team (eight), misplaced just three out of 98 passes (97% success) and made 10 clearances, while he only lost the ball four times from 117 touches (Sofascore).

However, Konate will know that he was culpable of some terrible lapses in the first half in particular, and Liverpool’s margin of defeat would’ve been substantially bigger were it not for Alisson’s brilliance.

The Frenchman managed to bounce back from a couple of difficult outings at the start of the season to excel against Arsenal and in subsequent games. Hopefully he can put today behind him and play more like his usual self when the Reds face Galatasaray on Tuesday.