Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate gave away a ‘really clumsy’ penalty against Aston Villa today.
That’s the view of BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton. Speaking on BT Sport Score this afternoon, Sutton reacted to Konate bringing down Villa striker Ollie Watkins for a penalty.
“My first instinct is has he got this call right? We talk about Trent Alexander-Arnold playing in that inverted position, it’s a ball in behind that right-hand channel, Watkins makes a good run, gets ahead of Konate, but does Konate just get a toe to the ball?” questioned the pundit.
“I think he thinks he does do, but he brings Watkins down. He’s really close to the ball but he does bring Watkins down.”
Questioned on whether he felt Konate could have done better, Sutton said he had to agree. “I do agree with that [that Konate should do better]. It’s a consequence of the way Liverpool play, they do leave thst channel open, but Konate, really clumsy defending.”
Konate gets away with clumsy moment
So many good things have come from Alexander-Arnold’s switch into a midfield position of late. But Watkins exposed exactly why it could be something opposition teams begin to target.
It was just a simple ball over the top to release the England striker. Once he got inside Konate, contact felt inevitable.
The big Frenchman wasn’t too happy with the call, but it was certainly the right one in the end.
Racing back to cover the gap left by Trent, Ibou was just a fraction late as he attempted to nick the ball away from Watkins.
A little clumsy, yes, but also there was all that much else the 23-year-old could have done in that position. Luckily for Liverpool, Watkins himself stepped up and blazed his penalty wide.
But the reprieve wasn’t to last for long. Having failed to deal with the ball bouncing around their penalty area, a deep cross found Jacob Ramsey coming in at the back stick.
Nothing Ibou could really do about that one, but it wasn’t the best example of defending from Trent.