A truly awful display from Konate, in a season in which he’s so often been calamitous, cost his team three points at a raucous Elland Road. Liverpool, leading 2-0 courtesy of a brace from Ekitike, were cruising, until the hapless Frenchman stupidly went to ground in the penalty box. With the spot kick dispatched, Liverpool then collapsed. 2-1 became 2-2 in minutes, and despite taking the lead once more, through Szoboszlai, they capitulated again in injury time, to end the game 3-3.
Just where do Liverpool go from here? Fragile, mentally weak, indecisive and ultimately rudderless when under pressure—they’re a mess.
Having given up two points to a promoted side on Wednesday, Liverpool’s visit to Leeds United never looked likely to be an easy game. Yet, for 70 minutes, it was. The home side offered little, while the closest we came to a goal in a rather lacklustre and incident-free first half, was a Curtis Jones effort that struck the bar. The second half, however, was filled with drama.
Ekitike, starting in place of Isak, put Liverpool in front on 48 minutes. Salah was once more omitted from the starting eleven. It was a striker’s finish, bearing down on goal after picking up a loose back pass and slotting it home with ease. His second, just three minutes later, was bundled in from close range, and that really should have been game over. Konate then handed Leeds United the initiative.
Elland Road was subdued with Liverpool two up, but Konate decided to go to ground in seeing out a ball on the byline, with the Leeds attacker, like his team, going nowhere. A lengthy VAR check didn’t ruffle former Evertonian Calvert-Lewin, and in easily converting the spot kick, the Yorkshire crowd erupted. With the atmosphere transformed and given Liverpool’s dreadful run of form, it was frankly inevitable that they’d concede an equaliser. Konate again culpable, turning his back on the ball, as Van Dijk had done on Wednesday. The ball flew into the net from inside the box, and a Leeds winner looked likely.
Shell-shocked though Liverpool were, they composed themselves to produce the best passage of play in the game. Playing through the lines, it was their player of the season, Szoboszlai, who finished off a slick move, benefiting from a team mate’s step over, which left him in space to strike a sweet finish.
With 80 minutes on the clock, professionalism, nous and game management should have kicked in. Instead, Liverpool gave away throw ins, free kicks and corners, further enlivening a by now feverish Elland Road, and as 9 minutes of injury time were signalled, Slot’s men once again, fell short. A corner falling to Leeds substitute Tanaka, as Alisson stood rooted to the line. His one weakness as a goalkeeper, proving fateful.
It’s perhaps fortunate that the Leeds equaliser came late: the 96th minute, rather than ten minutes earlier. Given Liverpool’s fragility and poor form, a winner for the home side, with longer remaining, might have been expected.
The Liverpool players looked crestfallen at the final whistle, but they need to look at themselves. The away fans though, streaming out into the rain of West Yorkshire, seemed resigned to the result. Angry of course, but in no way surprised. That reaction might just be the greatest condemnation of all.
