Q&AIbrahima Konate interview: Nottingham Forest trip, fitness and back-four relationship
Ibrahima Konate is overjoyed to be back playing as he targets another outing and three points when Liverpool head to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.
The centre-half returned from a six-week injury absence when Arne Slot's side last featured in the Premier League, starting the 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Anfield on January 5.
During an interview with Liverpoolfc.com at the AXA Training Centre on Monday, Konate detailed just how difficult it was for him to watch on from afar while injured and how the Reds plan to leave the City Ground with a crucial victory.
See what the No.5 had to say with the following transcript from the chat.
Ibou, you've just come back from your injury. How are you feeling?
I feel good, not 100 per cent, but I just worked on it to come back and to fix my knee because I knew a great game was coming. And when I saw the injury of Joe Gomez – I hope he will come back very quick because he's a very important player for us – I just tried to do everything to come back quicker because the game was so important and I wanted to play against Man United. Now we are here to come back 100 per cent.
It must be nice to be getting back into the rhythm of training and playing games. I guess it must be quite frustrating having to watch from the sideline...
This was the worst for me! Sometimes I didn't want to watch [the] game but I have to. When I am on the bench behind the [substitutes'] bench, my leg is just shaking because I really want to be on the pitch with the boys. But this sometimes happens and we just have to be patient.
It sounds like you're at your happiest when you're on the pitch...
To be on the pitch, you have the pressure, you have some stress, but for a football player I think this feeling is unbelievable.
Talk to me about the relationship with the defence. No matter who it is – yourself included – seems to slot straight back in. You appear to have such a good understanding, no matter if you've been out...
We know how to play, we really know how to play. I think the manager trusts me because I was injured for six weeks, I trained just one time with the team and I played. I think because we know how to defend together and how to play, I was not lost on the pitch. I just need more rhythm. I think the mentality in our squad is really together and we just have to keep going this season.
It's a big week in the Premier League with two away games, starting with Nottingham Forest. What are you expecting at the City Ground?
Everyone knows how it is to play there. Even last season when we played there, we won in the last minute. The game was tough and they had a great team, especially this season. I think they surprised a lot of teams and especially us because we lost that first game. But now we go there and we know what we want to do. We have to work very hard because we know this will be a tough game. We just have to be calm, be patient and to think game by game. Then the game will start and after we will think about the next game.
The way they're playing this season shows the level of the Premier League...
The Premier League, for me, is the hardest league in the world. Against every team it is so hard – I think this is a problem for everyone! You play every team and you don't have one game to relax. When I think about when I was in the Bundesliga or other leagues, you have some games where you will chill – but in the Premier League you have no time for this. You have to work and train and every time be focused because everything is so hard.
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