Arne Slot believes Ibrahima Konate is unfairly elected because of the recent poor form of Liverpool under the microscope. The centre-back endured a difficult outing in his defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend and a loss to Galatasaray in the Champions League. He made some distinctive mistakes, including those mid-week, which created a chance for home striker Victor Osimhen.
At the same time, goalkeeper Alison Becker tried desperately to race and make a save, picking up a hamstring injury. However, Slot emphasizes that Konate is not the only cause of such preventable failure in recent matches.
“If we lose like we did to Galatasaray or the palace, it won’t help if we lose the ball easily,” said the Reds boss about Conate, who continues to link with future moves to Real Madrid.
“He (Conate) is one of them and is definitely not the only one, as we got three of the four moments since we lost a simple ball without pressure, except for a penalty against Galatasarai.
“If you lose to game football, there’s a lot of focus on that moment, all of a sudden, 90 minutes is very poor, and it’s analyzing the game again and seeing what we did well.
“In the last two games it was clear and clear that he and others we weren’t used to, made some errors.
“Many managers get criticized because (if you) people do things they’re not used to and lose a football game.”
Mohamed Sara’s form is being scrutinized after the Egyptian star was benched by slots for a match against Galatasaray following his inadequate performance at the Palace.
Sarah scored three goals this season and provided three assists in nine games, but his inconsistency was noticeable as Liverpool adapted to the improved forward line.
Slot defended his players, saying, “It looks the same as last season’s second division, 13 goals, five from penalties and one from set pieces. He’s part of a team facing a different opposition than the first half of last season.
“If we compare how we won the away game against Man UTD when they tried to play from behind, we took the ball three times from them and played the game when the match (Andre) at Anfield became longer.
“We haven’t scored as many open-play goals as we did in the first part of last season.
“This is something we’re working very hard on, and the more we play together in a new set-up, the better we get, but we’re still struggling to find enough goals from open play.”
