Jamie Carragher was left frustrated by one Liverpool player over a ‘stupid’ moment in the early exchanges of their clash against Southampton this afternoon.
The Reds began the match as heavy favourites, knowing that a win would take them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, but the home side asked some questions of the leaders in the opening few minutes.
Indeed, Saints supporters were screaming for a penalty when Adam Armstrong went to ground under a challenge from Ibrahima Konate, although the contact was minimal and appeared to be outside the box, with neither referee Sam Barrott nor VAR feeling any need to intervene.
Nonetheless, Carragher admonished the Liverpool defender for taking the risk so close to the penalty area, saying on co-commentary for Sky Sports (14:07): “It was certainly a stupid thing to do from Konate. It looks like it happened just outside the area.”
Replays showed that the contact certainly looked like it was outside the box, which shuts down any question over a penalty. Also, Armstrong went down very easily under the challenge from Konate, even if it was risky from the 25-year-old to put a hand on his opponent’s back in that area of the pitch.
Carragher certainly didn’t mince his words when commenting on the incident, and it summed up a frustrating first 15 minutes for Liverpool at St Mary’s.
The Frenchman’s difficult start to the day continued when, on the quarter-hour mark, he was booked for unceremoniously shoving Paul Onuachu to the ground, although he wasn’t helped by Mo Salah easily coughing up possession to the Southampton forward.
Konate had a memorable week on the international front, captaining France to victory against Italy in the UEFA Nations League, but in the early exchanges against the Saints he’s looked well short of the standards that he’s set since the start of the season. Hopefully it’s nothing more than a rare blip from our number 5.
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