Few Liverpool players have taken as much heat as Ibrahima Konate recently.
Although he’s had a very good season by and large, Konate’s form has fallen off a cliff ever since an injury in March.
The low-point of a quite alarming disintegration from the Frenchman came during last Wednesday’s Merseyside Derby.
Konate was truly atrocious throughout a first-half that saw Jurgen Klopp fuming at him. Things didn’t get better for the 24-year-old, who was hauled off at Goodison Park with half an hour still to play.
After that game, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher steamed into Konate, claiming that the Reds need to look to replace him in the upcoming transfer market. Konate was subsequently dropped for Saturday’s draw with West Ham. Now though, the big man looks to have bitten back in training.
Ibrahima Konate looking good in training
On form, Konate is comfortably Liverpool’s second-best centre-back. It shouldn’t be forgotten as well that 23/24 has seen the No.5 make more appearances than in either of his previous two campaigns at Anfield.
There’s no question that Konate has been poor of late, but every player goes through these dips in form. If Ibou keeps his head up and doesn’t let the outside noise in, then he’ll surely bounce back and show his class once again.
Thursday appeared to be a good start to that. As seen in LFCTV’s Inside Training Video from the day’s session, Konate was in an uncompromising mood at the AXA Training Centre.
Matching up against Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo, the France international stood tall to make a tremendous last-ditch tackle.
With Salah feeding Szoboszlai, the Hungarian dinked a cute ball past Caoimhin Kelleher and into the path of Gakpo. The forward looked all set to tap it into an empty net but from nowhere came Konate, sweeping the ball away to safety.
It was a tackle that drew enthusiasm from his watching teammates and coaches. “Yes, Ibou!” cries a voice that sounds a lot like Andy Robertson, before Virgil van Dijk weighs in with the same shout. “Good defending!” calls another, with “Good defending, Ibou!” the final message. Well in, Ibou.
Is Ibrahima Konate in danger of losing is place
Up until the past few games, if Konate has been fit and ready then he’s been Klopp’s go-to man next to Van Dijk.
Had Joel Matip not picked up an ACL injury in December it would have been interesting to see if things had turned out that way. Matip was having an excellent season.
But with the 32-year-old heading out the door this summer, there’s a need to bring in a new face. According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, that’s exactly what Liverpool are planning.
Depending on who that is, there is a danger of Konate losing his place for the start of next season.
With Arne Slot coming in to replace Klopp though, it’s a fresh start for everyone. On this evidence – and plenty more besides – don’t write Ibou off yet.