Liverpool dropped points for the fourth successive Premier League game with a frustrating 1-1 draw against third-placed Burnley at Anfield on Saturday.
Arn Slott’s Reds took the lead with Florian Wirtz’s brilliant come-from-behind finish from the top corner, but Marcus Edwards’ second-half strike secured a point for the visitors.
Germany international Wirtz has scored four goals in his last five competitive games for the Reds as he looks to justify the £116m fee he was paid to sign for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer window.
The German star was impressed, but it wasn’t Dominik Szoboszlai’s best day at the office. He missed a penalty kick when the score was 0-0 in the first half.
Why Dominik Szoboszlai should not be criticized
The Hungarian central midfielder deserved criticism earlier in the week for his decision to attempt a backheel inside his own box in Monday’s FA Cup game against Barnsley, giving Adam Phillips a goal.
However, his performance against Burnley on Saturday shouldn’t be criticized too much, as although he missed a penalty, he was unlucky to hit a spot-kick into a tree.
According to Sofascore, Szoboszlai created two chances, including one “big chance,” completed two of his three dribbles, and completed 93% of the passes he attempted during the match. This shows that his overall play in possession was impressive.
The central midfield star showed his strength and quality off the ball, winning four out of five ground battles and his only aerial battle without being dribbled through once.
So it was an all-round performance from Szoboszlai, who shouldn’t have been criticized for his unfortunate penalty mistake, but in the end Liverpool took the lead.
Liverpool’s failures must be sold this month
However, Liverpool have a loser and after a disappointing performance against Burnley this weekend, he should finally be sold by FSG this month.
Ibrahima Konate has started all 22 Premier League games this season, according to SofaScore, but has yet to prove himself as a reliable defender.
The France international was lucky that Alisson made a careful save to prevent an own goal when he played Burnley onside and slid the ball into his own net.
But Konate was made to pay the price. They were too slow to react to Edwards’ run into the box and couldn’t close on him fast enough to prevent the English forward’s shot from scoring the equalizer into the far corner.
The 26-year-old bad guy (Sofa Score) lost possession 13 times in the game, and was lucky to only score one goal instead of two, again due to sloppy defending. That’s why it was even worse than Szoboszlai, who had a good game except for the penalty miss.
Konate (PL) | 24/25 | 25/26 |
|---|---|---|
Appearance | 31 | twenty two |
clean sheet | 11 | 5 |
Number of fouls per game | 0.9 | 1.0 |
Error led to shot | 2 | 3 |
A mistake led to a goal | 1 | 0 |
penalty committed | 0 | 1 |
Statistics by Sofascore | ||
As you can see from the table above, Konate has already made more mistakes leading to shots, goals or penalties in his 22 Premier League games this season than in his 31 games in the top flight last season.
Earlier this season, Liverpool podcaster and author Eddie Gibbs also described him as “Liverpool’s most worrying fault line” and “like a footballer struggling with his own reflection”, and his statistics over two seasons back this up.
His contract at Anfield is due to expire in the summer, meaning he will leave for free, so FSG will ultimately need to sign him in the current January transfer window.
Konate’s lackluster form in the Premier League this season suggests that the club should not offer him a new contract, so perhaps they need to sell him now to make money rather than lose the centre-back for free.
Liverpool ready to sign Szoboszlai for £100m upgrade, says he is ‘better than Rice’
Liverpool have identified the Premier League’s top midfielder in a bid to revamp Slot’s sluggish midfield.
Therefore, FSG needs to test the market to see if any team would spend some money to sign Konate now before losing him on a free transfer in the summer.
