Gary Neville spotted exactly what Ibrahima Konaté got wrong vs Brentford after seeing their third goal against Liverpool again. It wasn’t clear on first viewing.
Liverpool went down 3-1 against Brentford on Monday evening. It was a shocking performance – one we hope to forget very quickly.
Brentford found a deserved 2-0 lead before half-time but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back after the break. Unfortunately, it was the hosts who scored next as they wrapped things up in the 84th minute.
It was a bad look for Ibrahima Konaté, too. The Frenchman initially looked like he dealt with Brentford’s ball over the top but he ended up on the floor as Bryan Mbuemo slotted home. There were calls for a foul that wasn’t given and it appeared that Konaté simply lacked the strength to compete there.
But on review, Gary Neville spotted what actually went wrong. Konaté, it seems, tried something that didn’t come off.
“Does he try to head it back to Alisson rather than head it straight forward and take the ball himself?” asked Neville on Sky Sports. “I think he does.
“Looking at that again, I didn’t notice it first time, I actually think he tries to head it back to Alisson, leaves it short.
“I think he would have been better off heading it forward to himself so he still had his body in between [the ball] and Mbuemo.”
Ibrahima Konaté vs Brentford
Honestly, every defender made a mistake at some point last night. Konaté technically made two – Brentford’s first was an own goal from the 23-year-old. Few could blame him for that one, though, as he didn’t know much about it.
But Konaté should have done better for Brentford’s third. We think Neville is correct on the review and that he tried to knock it back to Alisson and got it wrong. Maybe that’s a sign of how shaky things were for Liverpool on the night as it’s not a mistake he’d typically make.
We’ll call it a learning experience, then. Konaté can and will do better.
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