Former Liverpool midfielder Don Hutchison has labelled Ibrahim Konate as ‘immense’ and claimed he should be starting for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The preferred central defensive partnership appears to be Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip – with the pair starting eight of Liverpool’s 11 Premier League games so far this season – but the ESPN pundit believes the former RB Leipzig man should be in the starting line-up.
“I think it’s probably time now looking back at that West Ham game to give Konate a go alongside Van Dijk,” the 50-year-old said on ESPN.
“I thought Konate was immense in the couple of games he’s played this season.
“He played in the Manchester United game where they kept the clean sheet and he looked really really solid alongside Van Dijk.
“I thought Liverpool looked leggy, tired and jaded. I think it’s time now for Konate to play alongside van Dijk because those two as a pair… wow that is strong,” he added.
In the 5-0 embarrassment of Manchester United at Old Trafford, the 22-year-old performed well but since then he has only featured once – that was in the 2-2 draw at home to Brighton at the end of October.
Matip hasn’t really put a foot wrong himself this season but he certainly didn’t have his best game against the Hammers last Sunday as both our midfield and defence were walked through at ease on numerous occasions on what was a difficult afternoon at the London Stadium.
A prolonged spell in the side for our No.5 may bring the best out of the Frenchman and a partnership with Van Dijk may be the prime option going forward as we look to close the four-point gap on leaders Chelsea.
You can watch the full video via ESPN’S YouTube channel here.