Sadio Mané

[RedReet]

Looking at our back ups it is difficult to see who that would be.


Lallana is/was injured. Chamberlain was/is getting used to being here. Coutinho is gone so now we need someone to be contributing to what he brought to the team.


Mane is not playing as well as he can, but in terms of goals and assists he is contributing at a healthy enough rate. Our back up players would need to contribute at a rate most, if not all, of them never have in their overall careers to date in order.


Maybe one of our back ups would all of a sudden up their game and contribute more than Mane currently is to the team, but to assume one of them simply would is to assume they would start playing at career best levels should they get to replace Mane.


I think the drop off in quality for cover for our attacking players, especially the wide players, is quite big and possibly so big at present that one of our starters playing poorly is most likely on par or better than the potential cover.

Beat me to it Jaco. Not to mention we only have to look at least season to see how these other players contributed in Mane's absence.

[Fredo]

Ox could deputise for Mane and I don't think there is a big gap in quality between them.

[SB]

Ox could deputise for Mane and I don't think there is a big gap in quality between them.

He does seem to be the obvious deputy & if he shows the form he did against City then yeah we’d not loose much if anything.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Ox could deputise for Mane and I don't think there is a big gap in quality between them.

Based on what? It cannot be based on their respective careers to date. There is only a year between them in age, Chamberlain has played in a greater number of career games, yet Mane has scored almost three times as many goals.



Even if we contain it to just games in the Premier league, then Chamberlain has 12 goals and 17 assists from 154 games.


Mane has played in 111 PL games, but has racked up 40 goals and 19 assists.



Maybe Chamberlain could fill in for Mane, but to date there is not very much in his track record to suggest there is anything but a large gap between he and Mane in terms of quality and end product.

[danperkins]

Based on what? It cannot be based on their respective careers to date. There is only a year between them in age, Chamberlain has played in a greater number of career games, yet Mane has scored almost three times as many goals.



Even if we contain it to just games in the Premier league, then Chamberlain has 12 goals and 17 assists from 154 games.


Mane has played in 111 PL games, but has racked up 40 goals and 19 assists.



Maybe Chamberlain could fill in for Mane, but to date there is not very much in his track record to suggest there is anything but a large gap between he and Mane in terms of quality and end product.

[SB]

Oh Mane Mane

[danperkins]

Slump, just cannot play on the left or both?

IMO it's a bit of both, he has become predictable cutting inside all the time and has no confidence to go down the channel and get a cross in with his left foot. In saying that though he is wasteful, scuffing shots, not using his pace to beat a man and seems to be second guessing himself. Seems a guy very low on confidence which is such a shame as he is unplayable on his day.

I really hope he gets out of this soon as if he clicks into gear alongside Salah & Firmino... we will be a tough prospect for any side to keep out.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Slump, just cannot play on the left or both?

IMO it's a bit of both, he has become predictable cutting inside all the time and has no confidence to go down the channel and get a cross in with his left foot. In saying that though he is wasteful, scuffing shots, not using his pace to beat a man and seems to be second guessing himself. Seems a guy very low on confidence which is such a shame as he is unplayable on his day.

I really hope he gets out of this soon as if he clicks into gear alongside Salah & Firmino... we will be a tough prospect for any side to keep out.

Has to be confidence and/or he is carrying an injury as playing on the left wing is not new to him and as I have said in other threads, he has played more often on the left wing throughout his entire career to date than he has on the right wing.

It was only during his final season with Southampton and his first one with us that he played almost totally on the right wing. Before then he had plenty of experience of playing left wing and he racked up the goals and assists from there as well as when he was used as a support striker and as a striker.


Salah on the other hand has rarely played on the left wing throughout his career and his best (and most played in) positions have always been left wing, support striker, and striker. So moving Salah to the left to try and get Mane back on the right is hopefully a no go.

Only way I could kind of see it working (moving Salah that is), is if Salah went into the support striker role which would allow him and Bobby to swap at will, then put Mane on the right and bring in a new left winger.

But not only would that see us needing a really good left sided winger, it would see us needing to bring in some genuine top quality to partner Keita in the centre, although it could be argued we need another upgrade in the centre regardless of Keita coming in.

[gratziani]

Feel like he is a more off the cuff player and when he has to stop and think what to do on the pitch seems to run out of ideas.

Better suited for games when we break well like City

[danperkins]

Has to be confidence and/or he is carrying an injury as playing on the left wing is not new to him and as I have said in other threads, he has played more often on the left wing throughout his entire career to date than he has on the right wing.

It was only during his final season with Southampton and his first one with us that he played almost totally on the right wing. Before then he had plenty of experience of playing left wing and he racked up the goals and assists from there as well as when he was used as a support striker and as a striker.


Salah on the other hand has rarely played on the left wing throughout his career and his best (and most played in) positions have always been left wing, support striker, and striker. So moving Salah to the left to try and get Mane back on the right is hopefully a no go.

Only way I could kind of see it working (moving Salah that is), is if Salah went into the support striker role which would allow him and Bobby to swap at will, then put Mane on the right and bring in a new left winger.

But not only would that see us needing a really good left sided winger, it would see us needing to bring in some genuine top quality to partner Keita in the centre, although it could be argued we need another upgrade in the centre regardless of Keita coming in.

Yeah has to be a slump, guy just seems devoid of any confidence. I do think Salah would be class as a support striker too but as you said it means bringing in a LW which doesn't solve the issue now.

Just have to hope he clicks into gear and can put this patch behind him. Would be huge for us on the run in if he could get back to his best.

[Daniel 7]

At the moment he seems to be running a lot like Daniel Sturridge was post serious injuries. He seems to have no confidence in going flat out and this is impacting everything he does. The short, sharp bursts that made him so devastating appear to have disappeared - its not looking good atm.

[danperkins]

At the moment he seems to be running a lot like Daniel Sturridge was post serious injuries. He seems to have no confidence in going flat out and this is impacting everything he does. The short, sharp bursts that made him so devastating appear to have disappeared - its not looking good atm.

haven't seen him open up in quite some time.

[Fosterbloke]

He needs some competition, hopefully someone like Malcom or Lemar (or whoever we sign next) will give him a kick up the arse!

[dizzycat]

He has looked like he is playing well within himself for a while. I wonder if he is actually carrying an injury that needs looking at at the end of the season.

[Phoenix07]

Regarding the fact he's played on the left in the past on a regular basis, it would also depend on the set-up of those teams too. You can see in clips from his past at how explosive he can be on the left, but he doesn't do the same things for us. Is that confidence, or the way we set up is unable to get the best out of him?