‘Should probably…’ – Shay Given calls out one Liverpool player over Marcus Edwards equaliser

Shay Given called out one Liverpool player over Burnley’s second-half equaliser at Anfield this afternoon.

The Reds broke the deadlock shortly before half-time when Florian Wirtz crashed a shot past Martin Dubravka, and the home side continued to carve out chances shotly after the interval.

However, the Clarets began to get some jot out of sloppiness from Arne Slot’s team, and when they equalised in the 65th minute through Marcus Edwards, it wasn’t exactly against the run of play.

Given calls out Konate over Edwards equaliser

Speaking on Football Focus for BBC, Given was critical of Ibrahima Konate for not getting across quicker to the goalscorer as the ball was played into him before the shot.

The ex-Republic of Ireland goalkeeper said: “Brilliant goal by Burnley. It was coming. A fantastic pass from Florentino down the inside of Ibrahima Konate. Konate should probably shuffle across, but he acts after the ball is played.”

Konate too slow to get across

We have to agree with Given here – as the pass was played into Edwards, he reacted much quicker than Konate, who could’ve been much sharper in getting across to snuff out the chance.

A few minutes earlier, the Liverpool defender inadvertently forced a strong save out of Alisson Becker after getting back to cut out a cross, but without that intervention, the ball would’ve gone across to a Burnley player for a tap-in.

The Reds still had the best part of half an hour after the equaliser to retake the lead, but the quality which had been on show in the first 45 minutes was nowhere to be seen when we most needed it, and a fourth successive Premier League draw duly ensued.

The standard in performance either side of half-time was chalk and cheese, and Slot needs to address why there was such a worrying drop-off after the interval, with Dominik Szoboszlai’s penalty miss ultimately proving costly.

Liverpool hold onto fourth place for now, that won’t be the case for much longer unless they put in convincing 90-minute displays and are more ruthless in both penalty boxes – to draw 1-1 despite having 32 shots to Burnley’s seven is simply unacceptable.

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