Shearer and Lineker in Agreement About Ibrahima Konate After Liverpool Defeat

Liverpool suffered their first loss of the Premier League season against Crystal Palace on Saturday, and both Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker agreed the 2-1 defeat could have been much heavier had the Eagles capitalised on Ibrahima Konate’s errors.

The France international had a game to forget at Selhurst Park, as he gifted two clear goalscoring opportunities to Palace in the first half and struggled to contain Jean-Philippe Mateta.

He was booked for a pull on the Palace striker in the first half but improved after the break as Liverpool pushed for a late equaliser.

Arne Slot’s side conceded in the 9th minute to Ismaila Sarr’s effort and were fortunate not to fall further behind before half-time, with Alisson producing strong saves to keep them in the contest.

Liverpool equalised through Federico Chiesa with three minutes of regulation remaining but Eddie Nketiah struck from a long throw to give Palace all three points.

Konate ‘All Over the Place’ v Palace

Lineker, speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, said Konate was ‘all over the place’ during Liverpool’s 2-1 loss at Palace and pointed to his mixed start to the season:

“Especially probably when you look at the performance of Konate yesterday. And he's been a bit in and out, last couple of games he played alright, but prior to that, not so much. And then he was a bit all over the place yesterday.”

Shearer agreed:

“He was. He got robbed two or three times, and they should have scored with a couple of his errors.”

Konate is in the final year of his contract at Liverpool and has yet to make a decision over his future amid transfer interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid.

The Frenchman, who joined the Reds from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2021, has started all eight of Liverpool’s games this season and is unlikely to be dropped despite his dip in form.

Liverpool’s options at centre-back are thin following Giovanni Leoni’s injury, with the summer signing suffering an ACL setback in the EFL Cup win over Southampton and expected to return only next season.

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