Gary Neville has suggested that one Liverpool player’s display during the 2-1 loss to Chelsea left head coach Arne Slot frustrated.
Liverpool suffered another late defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night — their second consecutive Premier League game decided by a stoppage-time goal.
Moises Caicedo opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 14th minute with a powerful strike from distance, before Cody Gakpo levelled on 63 minutes after capitalising on a defensive mistake. Despite strong efforts from Mohamed Salah and Florian Wirtz, Liverpool couldn’t find a winner, and Chelsea snatched all three points in the 95th minute when Marc Cucurella’s cross was turned in by 18-year-old Brazilian winger Estêvão.
A number of Liverpool players underperformed, with Alexis Mac Allister drawing criticism for his struggles in midfield. However, Sky Sports pundit and ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville claimed that centre-back Ibrahima Konaté was the player who “annoyed” Slot, leading to his substitution just before the hour mark.
“Konaté was just strolling with the ball at the start of the second half,” Neville remarked during commentary. “It was frustrating to watch — I think it was frustrating Slot too. He brought on someone who’s better on the ball, even if not as strong defensively. He’s gone all in.”
Konaté, who has struggled for form recently, was replaced by Curtis Jones, prompting Ryan Gravenberch to drop into defence, where he performed reasonably well.
The defeat marked Liverpool’s third straight loss in eight days, leaving them second in the Premier League table — one point behind leaders Arsenal, who defeated West Ham 2-0 earlier on Saturday.
After the game, Slot clarified that Konaté’s substitution was precautionary.
“He felt something in his quad,” the Liverpool boss explained. “That set off alarm bells for me. I might have waited a bit longer otherwise, but I didn’t want to risk it. Once Ryan moved into defence, you could see we started to get more control.”
Liverpool will next face Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, October 19, following the international break.
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