Forget Coutinho, Mane is Liverpool’s key man

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Sadio Mane has started this season in very much the same breathtaking form as he showed during his debut season at Anfield.

 

The pacey winger has scored three goals in Liverpool’s opening three games, to add to his impressive tally of thirteen goals and five assists in 27 Premier League appearances last season.

 

 

With stats like these and the general level of terror that the Senegal international’s lighting speed creates for opposition teams, its hard not to wonder whether Barcelona were looking at the wrong Liverpool player to replace Neymar at the Camp Nou.

 

Phillipe Couthinho is undoubtedly a world-class performer but when you consider that when the Brazilian was out injured last season during November and December, Liverpool continued to pick up results and were top of the table heading into Christmas, it was in fact when Mane went away to the African Cup of Nations in January that The Reds season really started to unravel.

 

During the talented wideman’s six-week absence Jurgen Klopps side were knocked out of the FA Cup, EFL Cup and went from challenging for the Premier League title to fighting for a top-four place.

 

 

Chances are Couthinho will more than likely be reintegrated into this Liverpool side as a central midfielder and not as a member of the Anfield side’s front three, such is the form of Mane and fellow speedster Mohamed Salah.

 

When we talk about the threat the ex-Southampton attacker brings, the word that is consistently brought up is of course ‘pace,’ but pace in and of itself is not enough. The game is littered with wingers with blistering pace who lack the quality in terms of decision making and end product, just look at Raheem Sterling and Theo Walcott as examples.

 

What makes Mane so effective is his ruthlessness in front of goal and the intelligence of his movement, so often he seems to pick the perfect time to either make a inside run behind a opposing defence or to stay wide.

 

Many observers believed Liverpool had massively overpaid when they parted with £34 million to bring the talented attacker to Anfield last season, however with the level of performances he is putting in week in week out for The Reds that fee is starting to look like a bargain.

 

With Mane still only 25-years-old, he will surely only get better and will be causing havoc for Premier League defences for many years to come.

 


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