Liverpool fell two goals behind inside 15 minutes through Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko before mounting a spirited second-half recovery. Dominik Szoboszlai pulled one back in the 47th minute and Cody Gakpo levelled — the Belgian's 50th goal for the club — shortly after, before Kobbie Mainoo's composed finish in the 77th minute settled the tie in United's favour.
The result left Liverpool fourth in the table and in need of at least four points from three remaining games to secure Champions League qualification. Konaté, who played the full 90 minutes, spoke to the club's official media immediately after the final whistle.
"For sure, it's a big disappointment because I think we concede two goals that we must not concede when we start the game. In the second half we came back with a great mentality to go 2-2. And in other moments we can hurt them but we concede a goal and that's why it's very sad for us — because we didn't start the game very well but the second half we started very well."
He was direct about what changed at the interval.
"It was just about the mentality. In the first half we lost many challenges on the pitch. When it was 50-50, most of them Manchester United won them on the pitch. But in the second half we just had to change it and change the mentality. This is what we have done and that's why we scored two good goals with our pressing, with our aggressiveness. But we needed a little bit more."
On what it felt like to claw back to 2-2 and then immediately concede again, Konaté conveyed the shift in emotion.
"When you are 2-0 down and you come back to 2-2, for sure you have the energy, you have the desire to come back and to win this game. After, we concede the 3-2 and we have to work on it, we have to understand why we concede this goal as well."
He looked ahead to three games that now carry serious weight.
"It's three big games and we know all of them try to be qualified for Europe. We have to keep going until the end of the season to be in a good position for the Champions League."
The defeat was Liverpool's 18th across all competitions this season and their 11th in the Premier League — the most suffered by a reigning champion in their title defence since Leicester City in 2016/17. Chelsea on Saturday is next.