IF ever a debut goal exemplified exactly what Liverpool had been lacking in attack, it was their fourth at the Emirates.
In one performance, Sadio Mane quelled any suggestion that his new club had overpaid for a player from the South Coast, again.
Where it seemed like his maiden goal for Liverpool might serve only to decorate a second half assault in North London, in reality it defined the result. What a fitting climax it was to a 15 minute blitz, where the Reds were irrepressible. Where they were so incisive in their disintegration of Arsenal’s defence.
And Mane was at the centre of it, aggressively driving his side forward with speed and such purpose, while stretching our opponents to allow space for the others.
This was 15 minutes very much in the image of Jürgen Klopp, but Mane’s goal was the kind we’d not seen scored under the German. Suddenly, there’s a new dimension to an attack that already possessed all of the ingenuity but lacked genuine pace last season.
https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldWrap/status/765113169517871104
What’s intriguing is that, although the signing of Mane is the second most expensive in our history, it was viewed only by some as sensible, but by most as underwhelming following a failed pursuit of World Cup winner Mario Gotze.
Fans’ infatuation with signing a marquee player can cloud and twist the realities of what a squad actually requires, as we clamour for a name of prestige over practicality too often.
Had we recruited Mane from Schalke or Sevilla rather than Southampton, with his record of scoring 10 in each of his previous two seasons – including a hat trick against Man City – then the transfer would have been met with much more enthusiasm.
Instead the majority would almost certainly have chosen Gotze, whom it seemed would rather have sat on the periphery of Bayern’s squad, where his career had gone stagnant, than make the move to Merseyside.
Mane however jumped at the opportunity to work under Klopp, and stylistically he’s the kind of attacker we’ve been crying out for, while Gotze bears semblance to the style of Roberto Firmino.
Not only is he as quick and direct in charging forward as I can recall of a player wearing red, he demonstrated outstanding game intelligence in slowing the match down and preserving possession in the final ten minutes, with the score at 4-3.
Arguably most impressive, was the diligence demonstrated in conducting his defensive duties as he made the most tackles (6/6) and most ball recoveries (6/6) of any player on the pitch.
https://twitter.com/TheAnfieldWrap/status/765230368727392256
At the Emirates, the Senegalese international announced his arrival by illustrating a full spectrum of what he can offer Liverpool and, while his consistency has been questioned in the past, it seems we may have struck lucky in securing everyone’s second choice transfer target.
In doing so, let’s hope that football has made fools of us fans once again.
- Arsenal 3 Liverpool 4: Match Review
- Arsenal 3 Liverpool 4: Match Ratings
- Arsenal 3 Liverpool 4: The Pink – Our Immediate Post-Match Reaction Show
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“Instead the majority would almost certainly have chosen Gotze”. The majority of LFC fans or the majority of moaners on social media that TAW may just devote a little to much attention to?
Whatever, he’s a fantastic signing. They all look pretty good so far to be fair.
Seems like the social media hordes were more interested in Mario than Klopp ever was. Again, Klopp knows what he’s about. At a certain point we have to accept that a) Klopp is very very clever and b) he keeps saying that the club already had a lot of outstanding talents but needed direction and an identity.
To quote Klopp directly (see the outstanding interview Roger Bennet did with Klopp for NBCSN for this quote – I’ll happily provide a YouTube link): “It was always Liverpool. It was the one club I had told my agent that the entire team would be happy to move to”. I mean, come on, I know we’re used to the mind games favored by many a previous PL manager (foreign and domestic) and the mind numbing idiocy of the questions asked by the British press but at a certain point it becomes a bit delusional to assume Klopp is just full of it.
Mane is a bit like Sterling with end product. He’s a delight. We have a squad bursting with attacking menace and a manager who knows how to fit those pieces together into a shape that can adapt to play against virtually any formation or tactic. Another quote from Klopp in that interview (and another aside: Bennet, who is from Liverpool and a massive supporter, took the time to carefully write down his questions beforehand so they weren’t just tripe): “It’s not about finding the best XI players, it’s about finding the right XI players to give you the best chance to win the game”. It’s illuminating stuff but we saw how downright unstoppable an attack full of pace, trickery, guile and quality can be when you add in that interchangeability. That fluidity we saw against Arsenal and Everton and Spurs etc in 13/14 was an absolute nightmare for defenders who had no idea where Coutinho/Suarez/Sterling/Sturridge could pop up.
Mane’s goal has all the hallmarks of a Sterling run with the exception it was a goal instead of whatever waste of the ball Sterling usually provided.
This summer has taught me a lot about the new norm of football in the social media age. It didn’t take much digging to discover that a lot of the chatter over these past few months is literally artificial. Controversy created by shadowy “journalists” (read: bloggers) to drive traffic and earn ad revenue.
A summer away and my unique perspective has returned a little more cynical but very much excited about what Klopp can do with a player like Mane.
Bit chuffed to see how Can rolls on and my whole “Coutinho as the sweat of the archangels” thing come to pass.
Easy now, nothing in this life is guaranteed. Moreno to make fools of us all etc.
Good post.
I don’t know what the stats are Matthew, but I’m willing to bet that football is one of the prime talking points in social media – it’s a perfect fit.
While there are many ‘shadowy’ journalist types working for organisations to encourage click thru’s, there are quality sites such as TAW who by their desire to be connected to LFC are, at most, complicit with the negativity that surrounds such signings, but I’m not convinced they conduct their business to deceive.
I feel, mentioning no names here, there are other LFC sites that are far more mercenary. By the way, I’m not saying you’re accusing TAW of any wrong-doing, but I do think your point is a valid one when applied to the wider social media sector – the Guardian for example – feigns to be highbrow, resorts to low brow click-baiting too often for it to be anything other than cynical
Sometimes I feel as though we are by social media herded together to form a pack mentality, so that we can ‘rid’ ourselves of certain players, air grievances that simply are not the within the remit of being a fan of the club,
I object to this – particularly in the case of Klopp – not so much in regards to Hodgson. Meaning, it feels ok to suggest that Hodgson doesn’t know what he’s doing, but Klopp, it quite clearly feels nauseating – and yet here we are all telling him how to do his work, while at the same time realising he is the best manager we have had in a long time.
We tell him to get rid of a player. we tell him he should buy a player. He refuses, again and again and again – and then tells the S*n newspaper to f*ck off and then smashes Barca and the Arse to boot.
What’s not to love. I have zero complaints. But that’s with perspective.
I howled with the rest of them when Moreno took a walk at the Emirates. But I don’t want the club to get ‘rid’. I want the club to stand for something greater than the monetary value of a player, or the effectiveness of that player on any given Saturday.
Mane goes to prove that we may just know not very much. Origi goes to prove how rubbish I am at predicting the future, cos I thought he was pants – and Sahko, to be fair.
We are all complicit in this – but among the rabble hordes, there are some bright thinkers, people who engage their brains before they open their mouths or type on their keyboards.
TAW, they’ve got a fair few firebrands to be sure, but I’ve always appreciated the insight they offer. But overall I find them quite level-head considering they’re footy fans.
The Dortmund podcast was outstanding by the way.
Good post Blud,
Were you a regular poster years ago on Gerrys site “The blogs dollocks”??
For the record, Rog is an Evertonian.
Yes, I think he’s going to be closer to being a Digger than a Babel.
I agree Frank,
Will be looked on as a snip at 30 million in a few years,
He’s exactly what we need.
The last time I got goosebumps watching a new Liverpool player was Luis Suarez for his overall energy he displayed, the talent he possessed and the inspiration he gave to assist Stevie G in driving the team forward. Watching Mane vs Barca I got those goosebumps again. Then Klopp said during the week along the lines of “that while they (he and co) can only marginally improve a player, their job is to give them the Foundation to express their skills with confidence that the whole team is playing on the same level, supporting in the same way allowing them all to play extraordinary football..” Mane has that Foundation and expressed it again at the Emirates. I need to wear a jumper fir the goosebumps at this stage;-). If he keeps this up he’ll be the a justifiable £100m price tag.
Klopp is Shanks reincarnated and has the Boot Room to boot(!).
Vorsprung Klopp Technik!!!