After an unprecedented full-back damage disaster shattered Liverpool’s title protection final season, the membership’s well-known switch committee has highlighted only one space of the squad that should bolster this marketing campaign – the defence.
Supervisor Jurgen Klopp additionally knew precisely who he needed because the membership’s solely summer time signing, as Ibrahima Konate – or ‘Ibo’ for his pals – arrived at Anfield in Could after Liverpool paid his £36m launch clause at Leipzig.
And as a soft-speaking centre-back, who grew up within the eleventh arrondissement in ParisAnd the He defined once we sat down to fulfill earlier this week, when Klopp calls you, you are listening!
Mohamed Salah and Ibrahim Konate rejoice Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Inter Milan at San Siro
“Sure, I spoke to him two or thrice,” Konate stated. “If Jurgen Klopp calls you, you assume rather a lot about this! He isn’t calling you for nothing!”
“However we discuss rather a lot, about me, about my non-public life, about him additionally, in regards to the membership, in regards to the mentality of the gamers, the whole lot.
“It isn’t simply me and him, you recognize, it is about the whole lot I make that call – the mentality of the membership, the gamers I’ll work with daily, round city, about the whole lot and with that, I decided.”
Konate, as with different newcomers to Liverpool beneath Klopp akin to Andy Robertson and Fabinho, has needed to be affected person to this point in his debut season, with Klopp typically preferring to get new gamers to acclimatise and put together for pace first in coaching.
“Being a Liverpool participant means you must take care of conditions that you just in all probability will not should take care of elsewhere since you play there on a regular basis,” Klopp lately defined his considering.
It isn’t that Konate bought any ensures from the primary crew when he was signed by the German, however the brand new man is as an alternative backing himself to interrupt into Liverpool beginning at XI as he additionally did at his former golf equipment Sochaux and Leipzig.
“I requested him if I used to be going to play or not, and he stated, ‘Sure, you’ll play,'” Konnett remembers. He did not inform me, “Yeah, you are going to play as typically as in case you had been the primary defender, otherwise you would not play as typically as in case you had been the final defender.”
“But it surely was all the time like this with me – after I was with Sochaux, after I go to Germany, the coach by no means instructed me, ‘Sure, you’ll play rather a lot.
“No, he is all the time with me, I practice rather a lot and step-by-step I win my place and why not with Liverpool I am unable to try this? And that is superb, after this I’ll work rather a lot.”
Konat made his Reds debut in opposition to Al Qasr in September
Nonetheless, endurance is a advantage, and the 6-foot-4-inch Konate was proper to consider in himself as in September he made his Reds debut alongside Virgil van Dijk in a 3-0 win over guests Crystal Palace.
Sixteen appearances later and Konnat has not misplaced a aggressive match for the Liverpool shirt, as all three of these matches have been gained, with solely 14 targets conceding within the course of.
In actual fact, the final time the 22-year-old began a sport and misplaced was with Leipzig in November 2020!
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Highlights of the Carabao Cup closing between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium
A kind of 14 victories, in fact, got here in Sunday’s Carabao Cup closing with Chelsea as Konate, as an alternative of Joel Matip for additional time, and his Liverpool teammates gained their first title of the season after a really thrilling penalty shootout. in Wembley.
Ranked 10 out of 11 on the checklist, Konat wasn’t anticipating to should take the penalty, however though he is by no means fired earlier than and in entrance of his “massive brothers, sister and pals”, he stored his cool off the sphere to assist his new crew win the League Cup. The ninth, breaking a file 11-10 on penalties.
“If I needed to discuss in regards to the environment, the Liverpool or Chelsea followers had been nice. It was an important match, the depth and the whole lot was loopy, it was just like the Champions League closing,” he stated.
“Watching this match was loopy, taking part in it was a dream and after we gained the penalty shootout, it was the primary match I met in my skilled profession.
“We’ve not skilled – possibly some gamers, however they practice for the sport, not for [shootout]. However no, we did not practice for it, however after everybody scored, that was nice for us.”
As on the soccer area on Sunday when Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel made greater than £100m of late strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, Klopp has been tempted to provide Konat the hardest duties of the season.
Liverpool defender Konate dazzles in 5-0 win over Manchester United (AP)
Which means he begins off removed from the middle again on the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Inter Milan and AC Milan, all of which are available nice colors.
Nonetheless, the Frenchman is now nicely conscious that the phrase he is heard so typically – ‘there are not any simple video games within the Premier League’ – is actually true.
“In fact – everybody says this,” he stated. “You see this on TV, however if you’re on the sphere it is an increasing number of loopy. You do not have a foul crew, if I can say this with respect to each crew within the Bundesliga.
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Liverpool centre-back Konate stated it was too early to check him to teammate Virgil van Dijk, however revealed he has ambitions to finally turn out to be among the finest defenders on the earth.
“However generally within the Bundesliga you play in opposition to a crew and you recognize you’re going to win. However right here you by no means know – you play in opposition to the final crew within the desk, however it will likely be as troublesome as if you’re taking part in in opposition to the crew that’s first you recognize
“That is loopy within the Premier League, the depth and energy of the groups, the mentality and the followers, the whole lot right here is loopy.”
Liverpool found this once more on Wednesday night time after they narrowly beat the underside of the Premier League, Norwich, to advance to the FA Cup quarter-finals and maintain their desires of attaining an unprecedented four-way this season.
Saturday March 5 5:00 PM
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It’s adopted on Saturday by West Ham at Anfield, dwell on Sky Sports activities, as Liverpool search as soon as once more to shut the hole with defending champions Man Metropolis on the prime of the English Premier League, simply three factors behind the Manchester derby on Sunday.
David Moyes’ facet are one in all solely two groups to defeat the Reds in any competitors this season – successful 3-2 within the league on the London Stadium in November – though Konate explains, each sport at Liverpool now falls beneath the ‘must-win’ class.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah — we now have to assume this fashion. If we predict sure, we’ll see… No, that is not the perfect mentality,” he stated. “I believe we now have to assume sure, we now have to win, win, win to have an opportunity to win one thing once more.
Mohamed Salah and Ibrahim Konate rejoice Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Inter Milan at San Siro
“And if we predict like that, we’ll be extra targeted. It is loopy to assume like that, you recognize, however we now have to assume like a loopy man and a loopy crew. And we now have an unbelievable crew and I believe if collectively, we will do some loopy issues this season and we now have to assume that means.”
“Everybody is aware of West Ham are an excellent crew, a powerful crew, however sure, we now have to consider this sport and sure, we at the moment are targeted on this sport and we’ll see what occurs on Saturday.”
Whether or not Konate begins in Saturday Evening Soccer Wrestle or not, although, the always-smiling France defender who loves manga and anime will probably be prepared when Klopp calls him subsequent – and given his robust exhibiting this season, you will be certain he will not be too far behind.
