Why Sadio Mane is no Kop idol yet
Flaming June.
The sun is out, the parks are full and the silly season is fully upon us.
For football fans though it brings with it another dimension entirely - the imminent opening of the transfer window.
Nobody waits until July 1, of course, before getting some of their deals in place as fans wait for news in fevered anticipation.
“Most of the work is done’ said Jurgen Klopp on the last day of last season though the fruition of those labours has yet to materialise.
Transfers are bright, new, shiny things. Hope personified in a smile, a shirt and a first interview.
Last year June was not yet out when Liverpool unveiled Sadio Mane as one of their key signings of the summer.
At £30m, Mane was Liverpool’s second most expensive signing ever.
And boy he delivered.
He set the tone for Liverpool’s season with a wonder goal on his very first competitive appearance, a stunning solo effort against Arsenal at the Emirates.
He would go on to regularly make the difference, his importance never better illustrated than by the miserable January Liverpool endured without him.
Mane’s season would end prematurely with injury in the Merseyside derby in April but he still ended up as joint top club goalscorer in the Premier League with 13 goals.
There were no complaints when he scooped Player of the Year at the Liverpool FC awards night and he was selected to the Premier League’s team of the year.
There is though an anomaly in his Liverpool record which the Senagelese will be hoping to put right when the new season gets under way.
For while Mane scored nine of his 13 goals at Anfield, he has fared particularly badly in front of the Kop.
In fact of Mane’s nine Anfield goals, just one was scored in front of Liverpool’s most famous stand.
Sadio Mane of Liverpool scores his second and his side's fifth goal (Photo: 2016 Getty Images)
That was the fifth against Watford in November in the game many considered Liverpool’s best performance of the season.
The rest were all at the Anfield Road end, usually attacked in the first half, and perhaps a sign of Mane’s ability to get goals that really matter in games, breaking the deadlock in games and, yes, making the difference in games.
For a player who enjoyed such a fabulous season, it’s a strange statistic that his output in front of his most adoring supporters wasn’t higher. Even his goal for Southampton against Liverpool in 2015 - a late equaliser to ruin Jurgen Klopp’s first home game as Reds boss - came at the Anfield Road end.
The Kop may have had to look on from afar last year but no-one would bet against Mane putting that right very quickly when the new season does finally get underway.
For more details: http://horliqs-ent.com/index.php/2017/06/17/sadio-mane-no-kop-idol-yet/
For a player who enjoyed such a fabulous season, it’s a strange statistic that his output in front of his most adoring supporters wasn’t higher. Even his goal for Southampton against Liverpool in 2015 - a late equaliser to ruin Jurgen Klopp’s first home game as Reds boss - came at the Anfield Road end.
The Kop may have had to look on from afar last year but no-one would bet against Mane putting that right very quickly when the new season does finally get underway.
For more details: http://horliqs-ent.com/index.php/2017/06/17/sadio-mane-no-kop-idol-yet/
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