Jamie Carragher has questioned Ibrahima Konate‘s form to start the season, criticising the Liverpool centre-back as being “all over the place” so far.
Konate has struggled for form as part of a new-look defence so far this season, with there a considerably less assurance in his ability to defend large spaces and stopping counter-attacks.
Speaking as part of Sky Sports‘ coverage of Monday’s 3-2 win at Newcastle, Carragher criticised the No. 5’s role in William Osula’s equaliser for 2-2 and his performances on the whole.
That goal came from a Newcastle free-kick, lofted towards the box by Nick Pope, with Konate beaten in the air by Dan Burn.
“There’s people for Liverpool who have made a really poor start to the season. Mo Salah‘s one of them, even though he’s scored and got an assist,” Carragher began.
“Konate is another one. He has been all over the place.
“You want your centre-back to go and win that header [for Newcastle‘s second goal]. He’s going backward, but he still should deal with that.
“It felt like it was coming. You can’t deny that, Newcastle deserved it.
“I want my centre-back to go win that. He was all over the place last week, he’s more interested in grabbing [Dan Burn’s] arm, he was really poor in the first half as well.
“He’s not at the races at all, and I absolutely shudder to think where Liverpool would be without Virgil van Dijk, who has been absolutely outstanding in those games.”
Konate entered the summer with uncertainty over his long-term future at Liverpool and that has not changed despite ongoing talks over his contract.
The Frenchman is a target for Real Madrid, who are hopeful of signing him on a free transfer in 2026, and with a deal for Marc Guehi being pursued it seems as though a succession plan could be in place.
Liverpool will still hope to tie Konate down to a new deal, but his performances in the opening games of this season have not helped perceptions.
A major shift in setup cannot help, with Konate so far playing alongside Jeremie Frimpong, Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, Dominik Szoboszlai and Conor Bradley at right-back over two games.
But Carragher is right to be critical of his form, particularly at a time when his representatives are reportedly seeking a pay rise to around £200,000 a week.
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