Steve McManaman singles out Liverpool star for criticism after Galatasaray loss
Steve McManaman took aim at Ibrahima Konate’s questionable defending following Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray, claiming the centre-back will have to ‘quickly forget’ his poor performance.
Liverpool endured a nightmare start to the Champions League round-of-16 first leg as Mario Lemina headed Galatasaray in front after only seven minutes in Istanbul.
The hosts looked to have doubled their advantage as the impressive Victor Osimhen capitalised on a defensive blunder from Konate to fire past Giorgi Mamardashvili, only for the strike to be ruled out for offside.
There was another disallowed goal, this time for Liverpool, after Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner was scrambled over the line in the 70th minute, with Konate deemed to have handled in the build-up on this occasion.
Florian Wirtz and Konate also had chances to equalise while Mamardashvili produced a fine stop to deny Davinson Sanchez at the other end of the pitch.
Lemina’s early effort proved to be the difference as referee blew the full-time whistle and Arne Slot’s men will be forced to overturn the narrow deficit if they are to advance from the return leg at Anfield in a week’s time.
‘I thought it was a very frustrating performance. They didn’t do enough at the top end even though they had enough chances,’ ex-Liverpool, Real Madrid and England winger McManaman reflected in the TNT Sports studio.
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‘They were also really vulnerable at the back which I haven’t seen for a while.
‘Anything that went into the penalty area, they looked as if they were going to concede.
‘I think Konate had a night that he should quickly forget really because he looked at sixes and sevens for a lot of the evening.’
McManaman felt Konate, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike were all partly to blame for Lemina’s decisive goal.
‘Osimhen just heads it back into the danger area. There’s nobody really picking up the big number nine,’ he explained.
‘Konate is just standing there on his own. I’m not necessarily blaming him because he’s marking an area but you have to appreciate who the danger man is and it’s Osimhen.
‘And then Kerkez and Ekitike are not doing enough to influence Lemina at all.’
McManaman believes Liverpool should have been awarded their goal midway through the second half, even if they didn’t ‘deserve’ to come away from Istanbul with a draw.
‘I think Liverpool should have been awarded the goal to be honest because if you slow it down, you see Konate goes up and it brushes his hand onto Davinson Sanchez’s head,’ he continued.
‘But the ball then hits the goalkeeper and it then actually hits Virgil van Dijk… Sanchez onto the goalkeeper’s leg, then onto Van Dijk’s heel, back onto the goalkeeper’s backside and it spins into the net.
‘So actually, it accidentally brushes off Konate’s hand, it doesn’t go directly into the goal, and it probably should have stood.
‘Saying that, I don’t think Liverpool actually deserved a draw because they need to liven up.
‘At Anfield, they have to be infinitely better than they were tonight and they will be because the crowd will go crazy. It wasn’t good enough tonight.’
Sat alongside McManaman in the TNT Sports studio, Joe Hart was also left less than impressed by Konate’s showing on the night.
On Galatasaray’s disallowed goal in the first half, the former England goalkeeper said of Konate: ‘Yeah, he is [lucky], it’s not a good moment.
‘He had some really difficult moments tonight, it wasn’t one of his best performances.
‘It was Baris Alper Yilmaz who was offside and as he makes that direct approach to the ball… I know he’s [Konate] not involved in it and the two other guys are directly involved… but yeah, I think Konate will be absolutely delighted to look up and see that flag up.’
According to Hart, the Merseyside giants will not be overly ‘concerned’ with home advantage likely to play a key role in the second leg.
‘I’ll give Galatasaray massive credit, they were on it until the very end,’ he went on.
‘I think Galatasaray deserved the win tonight.
‘I don’t think Liverpool will be too concerned about the second leg but on a 90-minute performance, there were a few bad ones out there and it’s something they will want to get out of their system quickly.’
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