'Couldn't pass': Steve Nicol slams Liverpool player for 'unbelievably horrendous' performance vs Palace
Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net.
Ibrahima Konate has had an up and down season for Liverpool as his contract winds down to its conclusion.
The French defender has made significant strides over the last year, cementing himself as Arne Slot’s first choice partner for Virgil van Dijk.
However, the beginning of the new season has coincided with some shoddy displays from Konate, as he continues to resist penning a new deal with Liverpool.
After a brief renaissance over recent weeks, Konate arguably put in his worst display of the season as Liverpool lost against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The centre-back lost his battle with Palace front man Jean-Philippe Mateta, and generally looked like an accident waiting to happen.
It was all too much for former Liverpool full-back Steve Nicol, who did not hold back in a withering assessment of Konate’s performance post-game.
Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images
Chris Sutton criticised Konate’s performance against Palace as the game was going on, and it’s safe to say that the 26-year-old did not improve as the match progressed.
Nicol was left especially frustrated by the display, claiming that Konate’s poor use of the ball ‘spread like a disease’ through the team at Selhurst Park.
MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES
READ MORE: What Real Madrid insiders are saying about Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate after William Saliba’s new deal
“It would be really hard to pull one person out, but I think the man that was at the start of it was Konate,” the Liverpool legend told ESPN FC.
“He had an absolutely, unbelievably horrendous first half.
He couldn’t pass the ball properly, he kept giving fouls away, he got booked, he’s trying to fight Mateta.”
“I know Konate’s a big lad but Mateta’s bigger than him and you’ve got to use your brain.
“Unfortunately today Konate didn’t use any brains whatsoever.
So, he kicked it off and it kind of spread like a disease after that.”
Although Konate was inescapably bad against Palace, he was far from the only Liverpool player to struggle.
The defensive unit as a whole looks wobbly right now, something Nicol went on to mention in his assessment of the defeat.
“Every time Palace – and anybody else who’s played against Liverpool this season – have gone forward, they’ve looked dangerous,” he says.
“Liverpool’s back line just doesn’t look composed at all.
“Yes, you would hope the midfield can stop the opposition getting at the back line as often as it does, but at the end of the day, the back line’s there to do a job and right now it doesn’t look comfortable whenever it’s asked to defend, whether it’s today or previous games.”
With Giovanni Leoni now out for the season, the only change Arne Slot can make in the middle of the defence is to bring in Joe Gomez.
Unless things improve, it could start to look like a long season.