View: 88% Ibrahima Konate should keep his Liverpool place despite what he did v Wolves
Ibrahima Konate could find himself back in the Liverpool dugout after his error nearly cost his side in the 2-1 win against Wolves.
The Frenchman opened the scoring at Molineux on Saturday [28 September] but his error at the other end of the pitch allowed Rayan Ait-Nouri to equalise in the second half for the hosts.
Mohamed Salah spared his teammate’s blushes five minutes later converting a penalty won by Diogo Jota but, weeks after he replaced Jarell Quansah at half-time in the 2-0 win against Ipswich Town in the Premier League opener, Konate could very well find himself back on the bench.
Arne Slot would be making a monumental mistake dropping Konate despite his mistake against Wolves, though.
Ibrahima Konate needs to strive for consistency at Liverpool
Konate truly produced a performance for Liverpool that highlighted his qualities and drawbacks at Molineux.
The 25-year-old was on course for a Man of the Match performance for the Reds until his error handed Wolves a lifeline against the run of play and nearly cost his side the three points.
His goal came from his only shot on target during the match but what happened after his one error leading to the equaliser, showed a player drowning under the pressure of his mistake [Sofascore].
He lost possession eight times trying to get his side back into the match and failed to find a teammate from any of his four long ball attempts.
Konate on his day is a brick wall in defence for the Reds but won only 50 per cent of his ground duels against Wolves, which represents a stark contrast from a player that is the Premier League leader in aerial duels with 22 won and has won 74.4 per cent of all his duels and 75 per cent of his tackles [Fotmob].
The centre-back has also recovered the ball 22 times in the league, in the 76.2 percentile of all Premier League defenders, his underlying numbers have been fantastic however that matters little when he is producing mistakes that could cost his side dearly.
There are faults within his game clear for all to see, while Konate ranks within the top 94 percentile for passes completed among the top five leagues with 83.44 per match, his 88.5 per cent completion rate drops to the 69 percentile [FBref].
In terms of progressing the ball there are few better in Europe with 6.14 progressive passes per 90 minutes to sit in the top 95 percentile and 1.25 progressive carries per 90 minutes to sit in the top 91 percentile.
Konate, despite his faults, is the perfect centre-back partner for Virgil van Dijk and his place in the side should not be lost to Quansah for one mistake that mattered little to the result in the end.
Slot will surely rotate his side once again when the Reds host Bologna in the Champions League on Wednesday [2 October], Konate should be rested for the midweek clash with the view of retaining his starting place for a tough trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday [5 October].
In other Liverpool news, here’s how the Reds rated v Wolves.
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