Ibrahima Konate has revealed the half-time message from Arne Slot that motivated his Liverpool players to secure a 2-1 victory against Wolves, propelling them to the top of the Premier League.
The Reds fended off a determined challenge from the rock-bottom Wolves on Saturday evening, moving one point clear at the summit of the early-season table.
Konate opened the scoring during stoppage time in a first half where Liverpool struggled for large periods.
The France international later found himself in a mix-up with Alisson Becker, which allowed Rayan Aït-Nouri to equalize shortly before the hour mark.
However, Mohamed Salah restored Liverpool’s lead by converting a penalty just minutes later.
Konate acknowledged that head coach Slot was not pleased with their first-half performance and emphasized the necessary adjustments the team had to make to secure their seventh win in eight games across all competitions this season.
“It was a big fight against Wolves,” said Ibrahima Konate.
“The most important thing for us was to take the three points.
“We are very happy and now we have to be focused for the next game.
“But we have to learn about what we missed – and I think this is the most important (thing).
“The first half was very hard for the team because we were late, and this is what the manager said (at half-time) – we need more concentration and more aggression when we start the pressing.
“I think when we came back for the second half we did it well in the first 15 minutes but afterwards it was a big battle again.
“But we expected this – we have to keep this on our mind and learn about what we missed.”
Konate’s goal, a header from a cross delivered by Diogo Jota from the left wing, marked his second in the last three games for Liverpool.
Notably, it was his first Premier League goal since joining from RB Leipzig over three years ago.
He added: “I hope it’s not the last. Yes, I’m very happy.
“It was a very nice cross from Jots. Okay, I scored but the most important thing is that we won.
“We work a lot on that and I hope me and Virg (van Dijk) will score more goals this season.
“Now we have to learn a lot of things about what we saw and I think the games will start to be more harder, more harder, more harder.
“Now we have to work more in training to be more concentrated during the game.
“We are top of the league but it’s too early to think about anything.
“But we have to keep going and we will see what will happen.”
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