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Football News: Article about Liverpool FC's Sadio Mane

I want to talk about Liverpool FC's Sadio Mane.

Mane has had a weird season. He started off looking like he would be our best player again with 3 goals in the first 3 games, but then his season was derailed slightly by the red card against Man City. Like it or not, similar events since then have proven it was an inconsistent decision to send him off anyway.

Otamendi, Ritchie, Valencia etc should have seen red too, or Mane should have git yellow. Whatever way you dress it up, Mane was the only player this season to get a straight red for a high boot. Maybe he was unlucky, maybe the others were all lucky. That is down to the Referee's to sort out some consistency. Another day though and Mane's season is completely different to the one he's had in my opinion.

So despite that Mane fights back but has had an affect on him clearly. Boom. Injured again and misses more football. This time though, by the time he gets back fit, Coutinho has cemented his place on the left wing, so Mane becomes a bit part player.

Mane still chips away and does a good job when called upon, but he is struggling for consistency.

Finally, Coutinho leaves the club. At the same time, Mane seems to find a bit of form again scoring against Burnley, Everton and Man City. Then again he has a bit of a drought. Until last night!

Last night was Mane supposedly not at his best. Honestly, that is not wrong though. He can play better and that is absolutely terrifying because he was awesome at about 70%.

His strength and tenacity to bounce people off the ball and win it back high up the pitch all game is so under rated. He is responsible for just as many turnovers as Firmino is!

Add to that, is Mane's honesty. Firmino and Salah have occassionally gone down a bit easy from time to time, but not Mane. He refuses to show weakness. Last night in the build up for Firmino's goal Mane nearly had his shirt ripped off him. Hazard or Alli would've been out for 6 months. Mane just shrugged them off, strides away from them showing immense pace and power, and then still had the composure to find Milner on the overlap, to assist Firmino.

 


Then you have Mane's goals. A hat trick away from home in the Champions league. No team in Champions league history has beaten Porto by more than 3 at their own stadium. Well Mane did it on his own, never mind the fact Firmino and Salah put icing on the cake.

His first goal was pure instinct. He hit the ball so early that the keeper had no time to set himself, and rather feebly let it go under him as a result. His second is sheer desire. With the form Salah and Firmino are in, you could almost have forgiven Mane if he'd just stopped expecting them to finish the move off without him. But no, he made an unselfish run to pull a player away from Firmino and got exactly what he deserved because that run put him smack bang on top of the keepers fumble. A clinical finish from a tight angle.

Lastly, you have his best goal of the season in my opinion. First off he pulls off an incredibly audacious flick around the corner to find Ings, but Mane doesn't stand and admire it at 4-0 up. No, Mane then drives away from the midfielder he has just made a fool of, gets the return from Ings, and hits an absolutely pile driver in from 20 yards. It was so powerful you saw the rain water pop up off the net!

What an absolutely sensational performance. And my favourite part? His smile after the game. He loves it. He loves football. He has been criminally over looked this season because Salah and Firmino have been more consistent, but despite the hard start, Mane is just 1 goal away from matching last seasons goal tally where he was unequivocally our best player. An underperforming Mane is still outdoing the likes of Son, Hazard, Sane, Lacazette and Sanchez.

I love Mane, and i hope he loves us too. Because he is fast becoming one of my favourite players and he is a real unsung hero at times. Even when he produces magic he gets accused of miss hitting the ball!

It's been a tough old season for our man Sadio, but he has come out on top and he deserves his moment in the spotlight for just getting on with it and not publicly moaning when things weren't going his way. Maybe he did strop a little bit, but it is clearly because he cares so much about being on the pitch, and more importantly winning on the pitch. I'd rather have a player who cares so much he gets emotionally involved, than a player who doesn't care at all.

Article written by MK Scouser

Written by Adam Jones February 15 2018 15:47:33