{"id":385468,"date":"2025-11-17T15:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T15:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/385468\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T15:21:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T15:21:23","slug":"ekitike-all-at-sea-konate-captains-france-player-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/385468\/","title":{"rendered":"Ekitike “All at Sea” & Konate Captains France: Player Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hugo Ekitike<\/a> and Ibrahima Konate<\/a> started as France ended their World Cup qualifiers with a 3-1 win over Azerbaijan, but the Liverpool pair emerged with varied ratings.<\/b><\/p>\n

Konate wore the captain\u2019s armband as he returned to Didier Deschamps\u2019 side as part of a rotated lineup on Sunday night, with France already qualified for the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

He started alongside Ekitike, who took up a role as left winger with Jean-Philippe Mateta up front, Christopher Nkunku as No. 10 and Maghnes Akliouche on the right.<\/p>\n

While France secured another victory, with goals from Mateta and Akliouche and an own goal from Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev, there was a mixed reception for Liverpool\u2019s French duo.<\/p>\n

How the French media rated Konate as captain<\/p>\n

\"DOHA,<\/p>\n

The ratings for Konate were contrasting, with GOAL<\/a>\u2018s Richie Mills awarding the defender a seven out of 10<\/b> and Maxifoot<\/a>\u2018s Youcef Touaitia giving him a 6.5<\/b> but Foot Mercato<\/a> (5<\/b>), L\u2019Equipe<\/a> (4<\/b>) and Le Parisien<\/a> (5<\/b>) less positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liverpool defender was quite solid,\u201d was Foot Mercato\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cEffective in distribution and showing flair with the ball at his feet, he dominated in duels and held his own in aerial duels.<\/p>\n

\u201cA performance worth highlighting against a relatively weak opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Mills added for GOAL: \u201cDespite not having a particularly good season for Liverpool, the big defender looked calm and assured at the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCaptain for the day, the Liverpool centre-back, initially under pressure, quickly restored order at the back,\u201d Touaitia wrote for Maxifoot.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter positioned, more adept at anticipating attacks, and solid in covering, he embodied the team\u2019s growing strength after the first half-hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ekitike\u2019s role questioned: \u201cA match to forget\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BURNLEY,<\/p>\n

The verdict on Ekitike\u2019s stint on the left wing \u2013 unable to build on his blossoming partnership<\/a> with Kylian Mbappe \u2013 was more unanimous.<\/p>\n

Foot Mercato gave the striker a four out of 10<\/b>, explaining: \u201cIn an unusual system with Mateta and Nkunku, the lanky striker didn\u2019t necessarily have the space to express himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cRarely involved and often unavailable, he failed to stand out and missed some basic opportunities. A match to forget, but one that shouldn\u2019t overshadow his overall impressive display.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOAL writer Mills gave five out of 10<\/b>: \u201cThe Liverpool forward has been excellent so far for his new team but he seemed all at sea at times. Seems to be better when leading the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

L\u2019Equipe and Le Parisien both deemed Ekitike\u2019s performance a four of 10<\/b>, while Maxifoot\u2019s Touaitia gave him a 5.5<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liverpool striker showed desire, made runs, and contributed to the play, but remained too imprecise in the final pass or shot,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had some good moments but lacked efficiency and finishing touch. A decent performance, but not entirely convincing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hugo Ekitike and Ibrahima Konate started as France ended their World Cup qualifiers with a 3-1 win over…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":385469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[2375,112744,181650,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-385468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-hugo-ekitike","9":"tag-ibrahima-konate","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115565723226122445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}