Patrice Evra says Liverpool misses the presence of Sadio Mane
The pressing ability of Sadio Mane in the final third was a thing of beauty. One can recall countless involving Mane pressing the full-back and trying to create a goalscoring opportunity for the team.
It has not even been a full year since the player left the club. Natural for Liverpool to feel his presence lost, but not to the extent we are seeing in the current campaign. Darwin Nunez is only starting to find his feet at the club while Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz are away from action due to long-term injuries and it has not even been five games in Liverpool colours for Cody Gakpo so it is unfair to expect him to create an instant impact.
Former Manchester United player Patrice Evra talks about how Liverpool miss the presence of the Senegalese in the team and how losing such an integral player of the squad to Bayern Munich resulted in the Reds’ losing track of their playing style and faltering through games this season.
Speaking on behalf of Betfair via The Mirror, here is what Evra said about Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp missing Sadio Mane:
“People don’t want to admit it but Sadio Mane leaving has damaged their season, I’m sure they will recover next season but not now.”
“I know things aren’t down to just one player, but he was a big part of Klopp’s plan and people don’t want to be honest about it, he was so important for this Liverpool team, he was the core of the team.”
Is Main Man Mane Missing for the Merseysiders?
Come on, it is certainly not easy to replace a player with 120 goals and 48 assists in 269 appearances but this is far from what anyone would have expected from the Reds back in August. New signings are going to take their time, but the rest of the team is not helping very much to be fair.
However, there is no point in crying over spilt milk as we cannot undo the past and bring back Mane to Merseyside, but one thing Liverpool can for sure do is to put in more effort in games and in training as well so that the Reds could finish in any of the top four spots to secure for themselves UCL football for next season.
The club will have to focus on building a new attacking strategy that utilises the strengths of the players who still continue to play for the Reds including the likes of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and those mentioned earlier.
More Liverpool News:
- Liverpool plan on late January swoop for Wolves’ captain Ruben Neves
- Liverpool show interest in Southampton right-back Kyle Walker-Peters
- Jurgen Klopp reveals he will “not leave” Liverpool dugout; hints at other changes
In any case, many big players have moved from the club and we are not playing in the Championship. Liverpool has in the past coped with the loss of players like Michael Owen, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez, and this should be no different as well, even with the emotions attached with the front three of Salah, Mane and Firmino.
