'Shouldn't be proud': £35m Liverpool player left disappointed after his international display last night
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Thursday provided a memorable evening of football for two of Liverpool’s international stars.
The Reds had five players in action across Europe and South America, with two wins, two defeats and a draw the final tally.
Curtis Jones was hailed by Steven Gerrard following his goal-scoring debut for England, while Caoimhin Kelleher earned praise following a penalty save for Ireland.
However, for the other three members of the Liverpool squad, the evening was a lot more sobering.
Kostas Tsimikas was given a brutal assessment following his turn for Greece against England. Alexis Mac Allister struggled for Argentina as well, as they lost to Paraguay.
The final player of the Liverpool quintet was Ibrahima Konate. And although he helped France keep a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw against Israel, Konate was left disappointed with his team’s performance.
Ibrahima Konate frustrated by France display
After dropping out of the team during the European Championship, Konate is back to being a regular for France.
That’s just as well, too. Konate has been brilliant for Liverpool of late and deserves his starting spot.
The 25-year-old is growing in stature all the time for his national team and there were once again suggestions that Konate could captain France against Israel.
Although he was ultimately overlooked in favour of N’Golo Kante, the Reds centre-back is clearly becoming a leader within the French set-up.
That was evidenced by his willingness to speak out on what he saw as a poor performance from he and his teammates.
“There is a huge disappointment, a huge frustration,” Konate told TF1 via RMC.
“We dominated, we had a lot of opportunities to be able to fold the match. Despite (the fact that) we didn’t lose and that we qualified, we shouldn’t be proud of that.”
Konate showing leadership qualities
One of the most pleasing things about Liverpool’s season so far has been the return to form of Konate.
The Reds’ No.5 is one of the best centre-backs in Europe but had dropped off alarmingly at the end of the last campaign.
That he’s now back to his commanding best is a big reason why Liverpool sit top of the Premier League and Champions League.
And underrated aspect of his game is perhaps his leadership skills. Martin Keown has claimed that Konate has surpassed Virgil van Dijk this season and while we’re not sure if that’s true, some of the Dutchman’s authority has obviously rubbed off on Ibou.
Fronting up and speaking out after a disappointing performance is one of Van Dijk’s real qualities and Konate is clearly taking that onboard, too. Head up Ibou, onto better things.
