After 10 league matches in 2021/22, Liverpool possess a very peculiar defensive record.
Having shut out their opponents six times, only Chelsea have amassed more clean sheets (and only by one).
However, they have also let in two-or-more goals on three occasions, which is more times than the likes of Manchester United and Wolves who have conceded more goals in total.
Unsurprisingly these defensive lapses have proven costly. There have been 39 Premier League matches this season in which a home side has conceded at least twice, and only two of them have seen them win.
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Liverpool were unable to overcome two goals against Manchester City and Brighton at Anfield, and they are clearly not alone in the division in this respect.
The Reds may be the only away side to have conceded three-or-more goals and emerge with a point in 2021/22 but having led twice in the second half at Brentford they would obviously have expected to win. While their defensive lapses may be infrequent, they are proving potentially harmful to their title hopes when they occur.
Brighton took obvious advantage of this issue on Saturday and may even have won the game such was their dominance of the key attacking moments in the second half. The Reds’ backline was all over the place at times, most evidently when the Seagulls scored their equaliser.
Watch the clip back and it’s hard to fathom how Liverpool found themselves in such a position. At the point Adam Lallana played his assist pass to Leandro Trossard, Trent Alexander-Arnold is nowhere to be seen, Ibrahima Konate is behind the play while Andy Robertson is a few yards deeper than Virgil van Dijk, ensuring the eventual scorer is comfortably onside.
With three of the back four long-established players at the club, with over 500 games in the red shirt between them, it’s obvious to point the finger at new boy Konate, who joined from RB Leipzig in the summer.
While it would be fair to say he wasn’t at his best against the Seagulls, the goals Liverpool conceded to them remain the only ones they have allowed while Konate has been on the pitch. And regardless of whether you view Enock Mwepu’s first half strike as a fluke or a goal of the season contender, it’s not one which reflects badly on Konate or his defensive colleagues, nor one likely to be repeated.
The former Leipzig centre-back has also played the entirety of the 3-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Norwich City (the latter in the League Cup) and the glorious 5-0 thumping of Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Though his quartet of matches aren’t the toughest four the Reds have faced this season, Liverpool have only conceded once every 180 minutes that Konate has played. This puts him ahead of Joe Gomez (one every 135 minutes), van Dijk (98) and Joel Matip (86) in this regard.
He has also formed a promising partnership with the Reds’ number four, as they have only conceded a goal every 135 minutes together. The only other pairing to feature for at least as many minutes – Matip and van Dijk – have allowed a goal every 90 minutes.
Liverpool did have better performing duos at the back last season, but the chances of seeing the likes of Matip and Fabinho or Nat Phillips and Ozan Kabak paired together again range from slim to none.
The players and partnerships from 2019/20 are more relevant, and again Konate is above the centre-backs on an individual level for the rate at which they conceded goals, and his partnership with van Dijk tops any combination from the Reds’ title winning season too.
His record should come as little surprise. While injuries restricted his game time across his final two years in Germany, Konate had the best points-per-match average (among players with at least 550 minutes) in the Leipzig squad both seasons. Since the summer of 2019, his sides have earned 2.28 points for every match he has played, which equates to 87 across 38 games.
While the 22-year-old still has room to improve and struggled at times against Brighton, the data suggests he is on the right track overall.
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