Liverpool’s talismanic wide man Sadio Mane has been lighting up the African Cup of Nations. His club side, however, has been struggling.
Jurgen Klopp has sought to make sure it’s known that the correlation isn’t the whole story saying: “It’s not allowed that we think a few problems we had in the last games are because we miss Sadio.”
Klopp can point to a poor defense, the absence of Philippe Coutinho, and some poor finishing, but the fact is that Mane has been a massive miss for the Reds.
Dating back almost ten years or more now, Liverpool have never had a true winger. Mane is the first great winger to come along, and it’s showed with how well the club played when he was available.
Without him, Liverpool have had to rely upon Coutinho, who is clearly not yet fit enough to play as much as he’s been playing. To further add to the problem, they’ve lost their midfield spark because Klopp has shunted Adam Lallana back into a wide role in which he’s just not near as good at.
With him out wide, Emre Can has languished in the middle even more so than usual. As had Jordan Henderson as well, who has only just returned himself. Klopp needs to look to youth, not strikers or defenders to shunt out wide, if he wants to solve their short term problem!
