After “two long months” on the sidelines, Ibrahima Konate is “very happy to be back” and is ready to help Liverpool find their feet after a turbulent start to 2022/23.
The Frenchman has had to watch from the sidelines as Liverpool struggled to find the form that took them to the precipice of history last season after sustaining a knee injury on the eve of the season.
The expectation was that Konate would not be on the sidelines for too long but he did not return to a matchday squad until 65 days after the final pre-season friendly against Strasbourg.
It’s been a long wait for the 23-year-old and his first minutes came in the defeat at Arsenal on Sunday, not the ideal welcome back but a return to action nonetheless.
“Yes, of course, I’m very happy to be back,” Konate told LFCTV. “It was two long months but I want to thank the medical group at the club who helped me to come back good, and stronger, I hope.
“The result today was not very good for me, for us or the fans but excuse us for that, we will try to give more for the team.”
Liverpool’s defeat keeps them on 10 points in the league, closer to the relegation zone (six points) than Arsenal at the top (24) and it was another showing of more feeble defending.
For the tenth time in 12 league games Liverpool conceded first and it’s something Konate “cannot really explain” for this season having only watched from the sidelines.
Virgil van Dijk conceded Liverpool’s “confidence is creeping away” with the team not on the right side of results and the only thing they can do is work to put things right.
And Konate is not shirking away from the hard work that awaits to do just that, and not just for the short-term.
“We have to keep the head up and keep going to work every day, every day, every day,” Konate said.
“Sometimes it’s like that and we don’t give up now, we have to work again and again.”
Fan Comments