2 Mar 2017

Anfield Shocker: Redknapp makes damaging claim about 'fantastic' €60m Liverpool star. Harsh...?

Ex-Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has criticised one of Liverpool's star players for his disappearing act during Liverpool's recent 3-1 defeat at Leicester.

In his column for the Evening Standard today, Redknapp admitted that Sadio Mane has had a 'good season' so far, but suggested that there's an easy way to take him out of a game. He explained:

"Mane was on the end of a bad tackle in the first 5 mins and that was him done for the night. You could almost see him say, 'I don’t fancy this today'. He disappeared for the rest of the game".

Redknapp is basically suggesting that Mane gave up after 5 minutes of the game because he didn't have the appetite for a physical challenge. That's probably a little harsh, but what is clear is that none of Liverpool's players showed up against Leicester, including 'fantastic' Mane.

As is usually the case, though, Mane and his overpaid cronies will probably be bursting with motivation Saturday's big game against Arsenal, and it won't surprise me in the slightest to see Mane get on the scoresheet.

Historically, Mane tends go missing in the second half of seasons. Last year, for example:

* Started well, and grabbed 9 goals/assists in his first 11 games.

* Form then tailed off badly, and from December 5th and April 9th (4 months) Mane contributed just 2 goals and 1 assist in 20 games.

* Additionally, during that period he went 17 games without a goal.

The inconsistency is already beginning to creep in at Liverpool, too. Mane has 5 goals in his last 15 games, but he's only scored in 4 of those games, which leaves 11 games where he failed to hit the back of the net. Plus, he's now gone 9 games without a single assist, which is poor for a player whose primary role is to create goals.

That said, I still expect Mane to contribute either a goal or an assist against Arsenal.

* Mane: €60m-rated (CIES)



0 Comments:

Post a Comment