1 year ago
182 It’s been claimed that centre-back Ibrahima Konate has now become a key player for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp this season.
Pundit Robbie Mustoe was speaking on The 2 Robbies Podcast and reflecting on an eventful Merseyside Derby.
It was a Mohamed Salah brace that decided the tie although the Egyptian didn’t have his best game in a Liverpool shirt.
The match’s main talking points centred around the referee as they so often do in the Premier League this season.
Ashley Young was given his marching orders before half-time after picking up two yellow cards.
A relatively open game was quickly shut down by Sean Dyche’s side and they felt aggrieved that Ibrahima Konate didn’t join Young down the tunnel after he committed a foul while on a yellow card.
Jurgen Klopp quickly withdrew Konate replacing him with Liverpool teammate Joel Matip as the Reds kept a clean sheet at home and briefly topped the league.
Mustoe has argued that Konate has now become an essential player in Klopp’s system this season.
It appears as though the German agreed as he prevented the 24-year-old from picking up a ban and missing Sunday’s match against Nottingham Forest.
Konate now a key player for Liverpool boss Klopp
Speaking about how Klopp has set his side up this season, Mustoe said: “My biggest concern will still be defensively. It still is and I know Trent [Alexander-Arnold] moves into midfield and pushes on [Dominik] Szoboszlai and all that and that works quite nicely.
“I know what I’m getting out of most of those players. [Ryan] Gravenberch in midfield, I don’t know.
“[Ibrahima] Konate, I think I know what I’m going to get out of him and it’s really important he’s on the right side to cover for Trent when he moves inside.
“He’s a key player, key, key player I feel like Konate is for the team, let’s see what they can do.”
There were calls before Konate was eventually substituted by Klopp to replace the Liverpool man such was the danger of him eventually being dismissed by the referee.
Joel Matip is a very solid centre-back but Konate’s superior pace and strength make him a better option to cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold as he galivants further down the pitch.
With Matip likely to leave next summer, the more Konate and Virgil van Dijk can play together now, the better their relationship will be when he’s expected to play every week next to the outstanding Dutchman.
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