Ibrahima Konate was at a loss. “I cannot really explain that,” he admitted after he and his teammates had suffered a chastening afternoon at the Emirates last weekend, and to be honest, it was unfair to expect him to have all the answers. The defeat to Arsenal was his first appearance of the campaign after returning from a knee injury sustained in pre-season. How was he supposed to know why Liverpool had conceded the first goal in seven of their opening 11 games?
“We have to talk to each other on the pitch and fight at the start of the game,” was Konate’s admirable effort at an explanation. A lack of focus and concentration early on in matches is as good a theory as any other offered up. “We are very sad but now we have to watch what was our mistake in this game and try to not do this again in the next game,” he added. Except, of course, they did. Scott Arfield’s opener at Ibrox in midweek made it eight games out of 12.
