Jurgen Klopp says that Sadio Mane is going through a phase that all top forwards go through in their career and there is no physical hinderance affecting his game.
While Mo Salah has often taken the headlines due to his goalscoring exploits throughout his Reds career, the all-round game of Mane has been greatly underrated.
Those who see the Senegalese star play on a regular basis will say that he is the individual that gels the front three together.
But just like many of his teammates, this campaign has been a significant struggle for the 29 year-old.
After starting the season in his customary style scoring three goals in as many league games, Mane tested positive for COVID-19 after the Arsenal game which saw him have to serve the customary two weeks of self-isolation and saw him miss the 7-2 humbling at Villa Park, his next game for the Reds against Everton saw a return to the scoresheet.
Since that fixture in the middle of October, Mane has scored just three league goals with his last coming against Tottenham at the end of January.
While it is worth noting that he did score in both fixtures against RB Leipzig, Mane is well below near his usual strike rate (12 goals in 39 games) and faces a significant challenge to reach the 20 goal mark (in all competitions) for the fourth consecutive season.
As research steadily increases into the lasting impacts of COVID-19, more and more individuals who have had the illness say that they continue to have lingering symptoms many months down the track.
We may never know how much this has been a major factor for Sadio, or if it is a matter of wear and tear beginning to show after a extremely heavy workload over the last couple of seasons and a compressed schedule during this season.
According to his manager, it is nothing different to what most elite players in his position have had to deal with and he is not duly concerned as the Official site reported:
“We all know how good Sadio Mane is, what a player he is.
“And what he did for us. Obviously the numbers, scoring-wise now, are obviously not great at the moment – he knows that. It’s always for a player and for a player with the mindset of Sadio, he wants to do extremely well then in these moments and that’s the situation he is in.
“Each striker in the world knows these kinds of situations. But I’m not concerned, but I see it as well. That’s clear. We work on it – that’s the only answer I can give.
Klopp conceded that the schedule may well have played a role, but the more likely reason would be a lack of confidence in front of goal which is something that is only natural.
“The schedule of the last three years was for a lot of players in world football a tough one – for him as well, that’s true. But I don’t think that’s the reason, there’s no physical problem for Sadio, not a real one.
“We all need breaks from time to time, that’s clear, but it’s not a general problem or whatever. It’s just a situation.
“If you don’t score for a while then strikers start thinking and there is a moment when you start thinking exactly the right things again and then it will be fine again. We have to make sure this time is not too far away.”
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