Liverpool made it look all too easy on Saturday afternoon at Anfield, as they disposed of a pretty decent Bournemouth side with ease, winning yet another Premier League game under Arne Slot in impressive fashion.
At no point were Liverpool tested by the Cherries, as they blanketed their opponents in a 3-0 victory that seems to be the standard of operations for the Reds in the 2024/25 season.
There were a number of excellent individual performances in this victory, but one that shouldn’t go overlooked was Ibrahima Konate’s high-quality display at the center of the Liverpool defense.
Konate is one of the best center backs in world football, but he receives a fraction of the credit, possibly because most center backs are underrated but more probably because so much of the praise goes to teammate Virgil van Dijk – widely recognized as the best center back on the planet.
Although Konate didn’t register a single tackle or interception in the clean sheet victory against Bournemouth, it’s because he didn’t need to. All he needed to do was mark tightly and anticipate runs or counters off the ball without needing to make an intervention.
Konate is a cool, clean, and calm defender, and he was also quite excellent on the ball, attempting a team-high 110 passes as he helped Liverpool completely control the play.
He completed over 87 percent of those passes with 8 of 13 long balls, and he even registered an assist to remind anyone watching that he is one of the most underappreciated ball-playing center backs in the Premier League.
But Konate has been underrated for a long time, even as he’s been world-class since 2018/19 back when he played for RB Leipzig before joining Liverpool.
It’s displays like this week-in and week-out that have made Konate beloved and respected at Anfield over the years, but I’d love to see the Frenchman get more adulation globally for his consistently rock solid displays at the back.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.