‘Taken him off’: Gary Neville says one Liverpool player was ‘frustrating and annoying’ him and Arne Slot today…

‘Removed him’: Gary Neville claims one Liverpool player was ‘frustrating and irritating’ both him and Arne Slot today.

A Liverpool player was described as ‘frustrating and irritating’ to Arne Slot during the loss to Chelsea.

On Saturday, Liverpool found themselves trailing in a match for the third consecutive time as they faced Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Reds have been experiencing a rough patch, suffering back-to-back defeats for only the second time under Arne Slot.

This situation threatened to escalate to a third loss in west London after Moises Caicedo propelled Chelsea into an early advantage.

Giorgi Mamardashvili, making his first Premier League start for Liverpool, had no chance, leaving Slot’s team with another uphill struggle.

From that point, Liverpool occasionally lost their composure. Regrettably, after a challenging start to the season, Ibrahima Konate found himself at the center of the issues once more.

Konate was ultimately substituted just ten minutes into the second half, with Ryan Gravenberch moving back into central defense. According to Gary Neville, Slot was not pleased with the center-back’s performance.

Ibrahima Konate disappoints once more

Konate’s season has not begun well. However, with Joe Gomez being the only other experienced center-back available in the Liverpool squad, Slot has limited options for replacements.

Nonetheless, the Liverpool head coach felt compelled to remove Konate early in the second half, with Neville suggesting that the Frenchman had ‘irritated’ Slot.

“Gravenberch [has moved to] center-back,” the Manchester United legend stated on Sky Sports. “If you observe Konate on the ball at the beginning of the second half, he was merely strolling with it.

“It was frustrating and irritating for me, and it was clearly annoying Arne Slot as well, which is why he took him off.

“He aims to bring in someone more competent on the ball at the back. He’s fully committed to the Liverpool manager.”

Konate may have been dealing with an injury.

In fairness to Konate, it appeared that he might have been grappling with something beyond just poor form at the beginning of Saturday’s second half.

At one point, he seemed to struggle while running back and was seen stretching his quadriceps after Liverpool regained control of the ball.

Considering the limited options Slot currently has at centre-back, it is unnecessary to take any chances with such matters.

It is possible that Konate’s slow movement with the ball was due to the 26-year-old sustaining a minor injury.

If this is true, then Slot was completely justified in substituting his centre-back, regardless of his performance.