Liverpool suffered a crippling blow in their bid to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League last night as they suffered a 2-1 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain on matchday five.
It was a result which served to emphasise the stark contrast from the Liverpool of last season. Jurgen Klopp’s side were the epitome of intensity and high-pressing ruthlessness last season, but their spark has been put out and they are on the brink of an early exit from the Champions League as a consequence.
Individual performances have been dissected and heavily criticised in the British media, with the likes of Jordan Henderson and Mo Salah coming in for particularly vociferous criticism, but there was at least one positive for Liverpool supporters to draw from the game.
Sadio Mane was far from his scintillating best at the Parc des Princes but he was clearly the most menacing of Liverpool’s front-three.
Mo Salah’s peculiarly flat start to the season continued and Roberto Firmino has alarmingly anonymous once again.
Without Mane, Liverpool’s attack would have been completely blunt and bereft of ideas, and BBC Sport pundit Stephen Warnock was eager to heap praise on the Senegal international in his post-match analysis.
‘Sadio Mane was outstanding against PSG, and was the one Liverpool forward who looked up for the fight. He got into some good areas, ran at his full-back whenever he could and tried to make things happen.’
It was a typically dynamic performance from Mane which the Liverpool supporters have become accustomed to over the years since he signed from Southampton.
Mane has managed to establish a level of consistency in his performances which suggests, on current form at least, he could be worth even more than Salah.
The Egypt international was unquestionably one of the most valuable players in world football last season, but he’s yet to really move out of second gear in the current campaign, even if his record suggests otherwise.
Mane deserves huge credit for his willingness to step up to the challenge posed by PSG last night when Liverpool were struggling to get going in the final-third, and the fact he was the standout performer of the iconic front-three suggests that he could command a transfer fee close to, or even exceeding that which Salah would command at this moment in time.
Liverpool fans – thoughts? Let us know below!
