Liverpool manager Arne Slot laughed off Ibrahima Konate’s playful protests at not being awarded the man of the match award in Saturday’s win over Wolves, claiming the Frenchman “forgot we conceded the goal “.
Konate put Liverpool ahead in first-half stoppage time, having previously scored in the Champions League win against Milan, but some faltering by himself and goalkeeper Alisson allowed Rayan Ait Nouri to equalize early on the second part
However, Mohamed Salah converted a penalty soon after when Diogo Jota was brought down by Nelson Semedo, taking the Reds to within a point of Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table
Pundit Gary Neville picked midfielder Ryan Gravenberch as man of the match approaching full-time, although Konate jokingly hinted he had a problem with the former. Manchester United choice of defender.
He said: “Sky Sports, Sky Sports, who decided who is the man of the match? How is it possible? It’s my brother, I have to give it to him. Milan I do, today I do, I saved one , what happened. You have to talk to them who decides.”
Slot, however, was less glowing in his assessment of the former RB Leipzig centre-back’s performance, retorting: “Konate? Ibrahima Konate? OK. Then perhaps he forgot the moment when we conceded the goal. Maybe that was the reason we conceded, it wasn’t there at the time because, to say the least, it was avoidable.”
He added: “The goal we conceded was definitely avoidable and it was unnecessary. It came at a bad time because we were in complete control of the game.
“By conceding like that, they got back into the game and the good thing for us is that we scored straight away to make it 2-1. With just one goal making the difference, it’s a tough game all the way.”
