Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has to improve if he’s to step up during Virgil van Dijk’s injury absence.
That’s according to TalkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor, who has slammed Konate’s performance against Brentford on Monday.
“Gomez hasn’t been in great form this season so you’re looking at Konate and Matip. Konate went over like a piece of straw when Mbuemo knocked into him, unless Mbuemo has been on the weights that we don’t know about!” laughed the former England striker.
“Konate’s got to step it up, maybe get in the gym, start doing some bench press, some shoulder press because the way he went down was pathetic.”
Konate sums up difficult evening for Liverpool
It’s difficult to put your finger on what was wrong with Konate against Brentford. So imperious at the World Cup recently, he looked timid and all at sea on Monday night.
No doubt brought in for Joel Matip to combat the Bees physical approach, Konate ended up being a weak link.
The 23-year-old wasn’t alone in that, but he ended up having a huge effect on the scoreline. The own goal that put Brentford 1-0 was perhaps unlucky, but Konate was caught ball-watching a little from the corner.
Then, his failure to deal with Mbuemo’s pace over the top sealed a miserable evening for Liverpool.
The Brentford forward is a tricky customer, but Konate should have comfortably been able to deal with him on that ocassion.
Had he cleared the ball into touch, Liverpool could have continued their search for an equaliser. Instead, the Frenchman’s error compounded, and rather summed up, a poor team display.
However, we’re backing Ibou to bounce back and step up in Van Dijk’s absence. He has all the tools to ensure the Dutchman’s injury isn’t felt so hard.
But he needs to be better than he was in West London. Physicality isn’t something that’s usually an issue for Konate. To suggest he needs to hit the gym is pretty ludicrous. Hopefully he’s now learnt from his mistake against Mbuemo and will be back to his best in the future.
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