Sunderland defender Lamine Kone has been nowhere near as good as he was last season.
Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football pundit Jamie Carragher has said Sunderland defender Lamine Kone’s attitude is not acceptable following another shocking performance on Saturday (broadcast 31 October).
The 27-year-old was pivotal in Sunderland’s great escape last season, and there was panic on Wearside when Kone was heavily linked with a move away from the Stadium of Light during the summer.
The centre back has since signed a new deal at Sunderland, but has shown nothing on the pitch to suggest he deserved a fresh contract, and Carragher did not hold back when discussing the Ivorian’s performances.
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil in action with Sunderland’s Lamine Kone
“There’s one player whose attitude on the pitch this season has been nowhere near acceptable and I think that’s Kone at the back,” Carragher told Monday Night Football.
“I think he was a man mountain last season. Him and Defoe virtually kept them up – Defoe at one end, Kone at the other – and he’s nowhere near where he needs to be and he’s causing Sunderland a massive problem.”
Sunderland’s Lamine Kone in action with Southampton’s Olufela Olomola
The Black Cats’ defensive fragility has been one of their biggest problems this season, with David Moyes’ side failing to keep a clean in sheet in their opening 10 Premier League games. While Defoe has completed his end of the deal, scoring five goals so far, Kone has been a shadow of the player he was under Sam Allardyce.
Kone’s contract fiasco changed some fans’ opinions on the defender, and his poor showings since signing the deal have done nothing to change their opinions, with some supporters naming Kone as the club’s worst player so far this season, as you can see in the video above.
Sunderland’s Lamine Kone during the warm up before the match
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
