Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Burnley on Saturday was overshadowed by Sadio Mane’s angry reaction upon being substituted towards the end of the game.
The Senegal forward, who scored the Reds’ second at Turf Moor, was visibly annoyed when he went to the substitutes’ bench in the 85th minute and appeared to gesture at Mohamed Salah for not passing to him a few minutes earlier. [via Sky Sports]
James Pearce, Liverpool reporter for The Athletic, subsequently tried to dispel any suggestions of a rift between the two on Twitter (via @JamesPearceLFC).
A piece on the dynamic of the Salah-Mane relationship. The stats make a mockery of the idea that Salah isn’t a team man. Since joining #LFC, he has contributed 20 assists in the PL, created 139 chances and made 968 successful passes in the final third.https://t.co/UXWeArVXPM
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) September 2, 2019
In an article he wrote for The Athletic, he maintained that Salah and Mane have a positive relationship and create plenty of scoring chances for each other, pointing to the Egypt forward’s creativity statistics to make his point.
However, Salah was pilloried for his apparent selfishness at times last season, as reported by the Daily Star, and these Liverpool fans on Twitter feel that he was needlessly greedy in the weekend win over Burnley:
Mané came to Liverpool before Salah, even changed position to accommodate him! Salah is so obsessed with top scorer and African player of the year. It’s why Klopp benched him vs barca. That was a clear pass for Manè and Bobby literally took the off Salah for the 3rd goal
— Mr. Amayo (@Rj_Amayo) September 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/PatrickWayneG/status/1168446469411655681
Again mate this means nothing. If he doesn’t score in a game, the blinkers start to go on and he ignores the rest of the team. We could have won 5-0 on Saturday if he played those passes instead of taking daft shots.
— Dan (@DACrookster) September 2, 2019
Agree with this but he did burn Sadio on more then one occasion when Mo was outnumbered 1v2. Does have the blinkers on sometimes.
— Chris (@johnsy87) September 2, 2019
While that is true, at the level LFC are currently at selfish play is below our current standard. Salah is guilty of that without question, he happens to be so awesome as a player its difficult to criticise but never the less he does it most games.
— MG (@MikeGibbons_MG) September 2, 2019
It's literally visible salah does not pass when he should and it isn't just 1 or 2 times, it happens quite a lot.
He tries to dribble past every defender.Mane's actions were totally justified.
— RRB Majdoor (@rrbmajdoor) September 2, 2019
Mané came to Liverpool before Salah, even changed position to accommodate him! Salah is so obsessed with top scorer and African player of the year. It’s why Klopp benched him vs barca. That was a clear pass for Manè and Bobby literally took the off Salah for the 3rd goal
— Mr. Amayo (@Rj_Amayo) September 2, 2019
What are your thoughts on the Salah-Mane episode from Liverpool’s win at Burnley? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
