It does seem like Salah's form has rattled him somewhat. He looks like he's trying too hard; I don't think in normal state of mind he would have shot from a tight angle with his weaker foot (not even close to hitting the target) instead of passing to 3 open players for a tap-in. He argued over his position on the pitch with Klopp as he was subbed on for the last 5 minutes vs Chelsea, in hindsight maybe even the sending off against City was a part of a pattern of forcing things too much.
I still think that there was something more to "Phil never gives me the ball" joke. Did he mean it to say that Coutinho passes to Salah more, since quite a few of Mo's goals were indeed set up by Phil? He is rattled because he was our best player last season, but now he's not even the best African player at LFC – and the stats show it too:
(as of Thursday)
Salah – 23 games, 18 goals (99mins per goal)
Coutinho – 14 games, 9 goals (117 mins/goal)
Firmino – 22 games, 12 goals (144 mins/goal)
Mane 15 games, 7 goals (159 mins/goal)
Assists: Coutinho and Milner – 7, Firmino and Salah – 6, Mane – 5.
@Ryan wrote that shifting him to the left made him less effective – but in theory there is nothing wrong with a right-footed winger playing on the left and most right-footers actually prefer it nowadays. Earlier in the season Mane looked just as good if not better on the left. But if the problem is not tactical, but psychological, if he got into his head that somehow he's being shortchanged/shifted around to accommodate others – something he never had to contemplate at Southampton or Salzburg – then it could explain the diminished effectiveness. Don't get me wrong – Mane is still an awesome player, even when he is being greedy and all. But I hope he can use the success of Salah as motivation to get even better; so far it seems like the opposite has happened.
I still think that there was something more to "Phil never gives me the ball" joke. Did he mean it to say that Coutinho passes to Salah more, since quite a few of Mo's goals were indeed set up by Phil? He is rattled because he was our best player last season, but now he's not even the best African player at LFC – and the stats show it too:
(as of Thursday)
Salah – 23 games, 18 goals (99mins per goal)
Coutinho – 14 games, 9 goals (117 mins/goal)
Firmino – 22 games, 12 goals (144 mins/goal)
Mane 15 games, 7 goals (159 mins/goal)
Assists: Coutinho and Milner – 7, Firmino and Salah – 6, Mane – 5.
@Ryan wrote that shifting him to the left made him less effective – but in theory there is nothing wrong with a right-footed winger playing on the left and most right-footers actually prefer it nowadays. Earlier in the season Mane looked just as good if not better on the left. But if the problem is not tactical, but psychological, if he got into his head that somehow he's being shortchanged/shifted around to accommodate others – something he never had to contemplate at Southampton or Salzburg – then it could explain the diminished effectiveness. Don't get me wrong – Mane is still an awesome player, even when he is being greedy and all. But I hope he can use the success of Salah as motivation to get even better; so far it seems like the opposite has happened.
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