Gary Neville says 23-year-old Liverpool player had an absolute stinker vs Tottenham

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Gary Neville has now said that he thought Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate had a really poor game against Tottenham Hotspur.

Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the Sky Sports pundit slated the young defender.

Liverpool’s attack was on fire in the first 15 minutes.

For the second time in two weeks, Tottenham found themselves three goals behind early on in the game.

Curtis Jones, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah gave the Reds what looked like an unassailable lead.

However, unlike their game against Newcastle, Tottenham rallied at Anfield.

Harry Kane scored his 25^th league goal of the season before half-time, and then the chances came thick and fast.

Spurs hit the woodwork several times before Son Heung-min ghosted in behind Konate for their second goal.

Richarlison thought he earned Tottenham a last-minute point with his first league goal for the club.

Diogo Jota had other ideas though, and earned Liverpool a vital three points in the final seconds.

That only papered over the cracks in Liverpool’s defence though, and Neville was concerned with Ibrahima Konate yesterday.

He didn’t look comfortable with having to cover Trent Alexander-Arnold in his new role.

Neville slams Liverpool defender Konate’s performance

Speaking about the poor defending from the Reds yesterday, Neville said: “Konate on that right-hand side had a nightmare today 40 minutes in.

“You have to connect the two [Konate’s form and Alexander-Arnold playing centrally], you can’t keep papering over the cracks.

“You have to deal with it properly. Every chance Tottenham had it felt like it came down that right-hand side.

“I love Trent on the ball and playing centrally unless they were going to a back-three and Robertson as tucking on the left, but Robertson’s flying forwards as well, and asking Konate to play right-back and right-centre-back, that’s too big an ask.

“You need to be on top of your game, and Liverpool aren’t at that in this moment in time.”

The £36m defender has been very up and down this season, not helped by his injury issues.

Konate’s only managed to play 14 league games for Liverpool this season, and some of the problems Neville has raised could come down to match sharpness.

The Frenchman praised Alexander-Arnold recently, but it looks too much to ask him to cover for his positioning.

It’s a conundrum Jurgen Klopp needs to solve quickly, otherwise he’ll be dipping into the summer transfer market to find a solution.