Despite this, Konate used his own height and strength to ensure his team were not bullied aerially. Only three times this season has any team other than Spurs deployed a taller line-up than that with which Antonio Conte began the match against the Reds. The fact Tottenham have fielded the tallest average starting XI in the 2022/23 Premier League – Liverpool are 12 th – obviously plays into this. While not among the elite for this metric, Spurs have won more than they’ve lost, something the Reds cannot say about themselves. For instance, Tottenham have a higher aerial duel win percentage than Liverpool this season. In his own half, Konate was flawless in the air.Īnd when looking at statistics, be they attacking or defensive, the strengths of the opposition faced is something that is of vital importance but rarely gets considered. While the volume of actions was to be expected, the French international wasn’t dribbled past for any of his three attempted tackles and the only one of the eight aerial duels he lost occurred in the Tottenham penalty box. Nonetheless, Konate was first or second in the Liverpool standings for ball recoveries, tackles, interceptions, clearances and aerial duels won against Spurs. With opposition teams always targeting Trent Alexander-Arnold, the centre-back immediately to his left is always likely to record more defensive actions than Van Dijk. When looking at defensive numbers it can often feel like a counting exercise and nothing more. Indeed, he might even have been the Reds’ man of the match had Mohamed Salah not scored twice, and Twelve Football rated them as Liverpool’s top two players in that order. The latest instance of this situation occurred at Tottenham last weekend, another tough match in which the 23-year-old performed well. READ MORE: Liverpool first team given 'present' by Academy after promotion of 17-year-old Spain starlet READ MORE: Darwin Nunez rush to judgement exposed as Iago Aspas claims rubbished by Liverpool striker
Konate’s last 11 appearances alongside Virgil van Dijk have all either been in the Champions League or against fellow members of the Premier League’s big six clubs, and 20 of his 33 Liverpool appearances fall into that category too. These figures are hardly disastrous, though there appears room for improvement.īut what these simple numbers don’t account for is the difficulty of opponent he has faced. The French international has played the full 90 minutes on 28 occasions, with Liverpool keeping 11 clean sheets when he has completed a match.
He has made 33 appearances for the Reds, playing the equivalent of a little under 31 full matches, with his side conceding a total of 26 goals in those games. In the simplest of terms, Liverpool’s defensive record when Ibrahima Konate has played is not that spectacular.
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