Darren Bent believes ‘outstanding’ Liverpool player got absolutely ‘bullied’ by Crystal Palace on Saturday

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Liverpool ended up losing their Premier League winning streak against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The Reds had won their first five top-flight games, but they were once again thwarted by Oliver Glasner’s men.

Saturday’s clash was the second time that the Anfield outfit had been beaten by the club, with the Eagles being the only team to have triumphed over Liverpool across all competitions thus far.

The Reds’ next game is against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, with one Liverpool player hoping that he puts in a better performance than he did on Saturday.

Darren Bent says Ibrahima Konate was ‘bullied’ by Jean-Philippe Mateta

In the grand scheme of things, it was clear that Palace deserved to win the game on Saturday.

The Eagles were all over Liverpool at every chance they got and, even though Eddie Nketiah’s last-minute goal was a tad lucky, they deserved to keep their unbeaten streak in the Premier League.

However, if Ibrahima Konate had put in a better performance, it feels like things may have turned out differently.

The Frenchman has been poor this season and, while live on talkSPORT, Darren Bent admitted that the centre-back was “bullied” by Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta.

“He [Konate] got absolutely bullied by Mateta. But then that can happen,” he said.

“Mateta could have had a hat-trick. He’s been incredible since Glasner got there.”

Ibrahima Konate must get back to his best for Liverpool soon

Since arriving from RB Leipzig all those years ago, Konate has become an integral part of the Reds’ team.

The centre-back has formed a formidable partnership with Virgil van Dijk, but, with his future still under question, he’s been half the player he usually is.

Indeed, there have been times in the past when the Frenchman has been dubbed “outstanding“, but this season, he’s been one of the Reds’ worst players.

Unless things turn around with the defender soon, it wouldn’t be all that much of a surprise to see Joe Gomez get introduced into Slot’s starting XI on a more consistent basis.

At the moment, talks of a move for a centre-back are non-starters, but if it gets to the halfway point in the season and Konate is still the weak point, that’s when things are likely to change.