‘Strange’… Jurgen Klopp told he should have been playing £35m Liverpool star much more often

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Jurgen Klopp is going to have to change things in the Liverpool defence following injury to Joel Matip.

After yesterday’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United, Klopp confirmed that Matip has suffered an ACL injury, which is set to rule him out for the season.

With the 32-year-old playing really well of late, it’s a big blow for Liverpool and leaves them with three senior centre-back options, as well as Jarell Quansah.

Last night – the first game since Matip’s injury – Ibrahima Konate started and had a slightly wobbly 90 minutes. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old will now be the man expected to partner Virgil van Dijk more often than not. And speaking to ESPN after Wednesday’s win, Liverpool legend Steve Nicol questioned why Konate had been playing second-fiddle to Matip anyway.

“When I heard that [Matip’s injury], I was thinking, okay, so Konate’s going to have to play regularly now, which I find strange that he hasn’t been,” Nicol said. “Maybe there’s something Klopp is not particularly keen on, but when it came down to it he always seemed to prefer Matip over Konate.

“Hey, personally I couldn’t figure it out, but I’m not going to argue with Klopp. But now Konate’s going to have to step up and do the job that Matip’s been doing. For a guy of his age he’s [Konate] done a good job over the past 12 months, certainly.”

Nicol backs Konate to step up

This is not a hot take from Nicol. Plenty of supporters would agree that Konate should be Van Dijk’s regular partner anyway.

The Frenchman is not a young, unproven player asked to step in in the way of Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams in 2020/21.

He is an experienced player; a World Cup finalist who has already been a regular for Liverpool since his £35m move in 2021.

In our opinion, we were also a little surprised to see Konate give up his starting spot for the Reds this season. Having began the campaign really well, he looked set to reduce Matip and Joe Gomez to bit-part roles.

But having watched the games and seen the performances since, Klopp was right to install Matip as the new, old first-choice.

It’s not that Ibou has been especially bad – although he did struggle last night. Rather, his older teammate has been excellent.

Matip’s injury comes at a time where he was making a strong claim to be given a new contract. The veteran really did look like being back to his best.

Unfortunately, that has all now gone up in smoke. But Liverpool supporters won’t fret too much. Konate represents the long-term future of the Reds defence. Now is the time to end this debate once and for all.