‘Hope that won’t’… Ibrahima Konate suggests something could ‘cost’ Liverpool in the title race this season

Ahead of their Premier League season recommencing with a trip to Bournemouth tomorrow, Liverpool are looking in good shape.

The trip to Dean Court will not be an easy one. But should the Reds come away with three more points, they’ll restore their five-point lead at the top of the table.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Liverpool, though. They’ll already be looking back on a few draws in particular with regret. Games that should have been won.

And speaking to the Liverpool ECHO today, Ibrahima Konate has suggested that those dropped points could yet come back to haunt Jurgen Klopp’s team.

“The first half of the season has gone reasonably well,” began the Frenchman. “Even if we have dropped one or two points here and there, which is a bit of a shame because when you reflect back at the end of the season, that’s when you’ll realise about those points here and there.

“I hope that won’t cost us dearly. Now with the second half of the season ahead of us, that’s the vital part, and I hope that we can keep going right to the end and that we can end the season by finishing top of this league.”

Konate hoping for no regrets

It’s easy for any team or group of fans to look back on seasons with this attitude. No matter who you are, there are always one or two matches that you can really pinpoint as missed opportunities.

But for Liverpool – having lost two titles by a single point in the last five years – it’s all the more relevant.

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Konate and plenty of his teammates know just how painful missing out by such a small margin is. They know exactly the importance of each and every point won, and more crucially, lost.

So far this season, Liverpool haven’t had too many of these just yet. But nevertheless, the spectres of a couple of games will still haunt them if they come so close again.

Perhaps the principal culprit here is the draw away at Luton. The Hatters have since proven that it’s not easy to rock up to Kenilworth Road and take all three points. But Liverpool should have done so back in November. A huge missed chance for Darwin Nunez is the one that sticks in the memory there.

Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Nunez isn’t the only one who’ll still be regretting some sloppiness in-front of goal, though. Ryan Gravenberch had the chance to put Liverpool 3-1 up at the Amex in October. Instead, the 21-year-old hit the bar with the goal wide open. Brighton grabbed an equaliser not too long later. 2-2.

Another missed opportunity could be the 0-0 against Manchester United. Not a bad result on the face of it but with United in a state, it should have been a victory.

It remains to be seen whether the Reds will come to regret not killing off Arsenal when they had the chance last month, too. The loss against Tottenham Hotspur in September will also be the one that really hurts if we lose out come May.

But let’s stay positive. There’s still half a season to make sure these are all points gained rather than two lost.

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