I know I often remark that "last season doesn't count" and I firmly believe that. It should be ignored as being completely irrelevant to any kind of judgement making and nothing proves that more than Sadio Mané.
Actually that's not true. Our home record is a more compelling case s to why last season should be disregarded. No defeats at Anfield in five years with fans in the stadium, but we lost six on the spin when it was empty. Shit, even Everton won at Anfield when there were no fans there.
The form of Sadio Mané last year is another good example of why football without fans really isn't like proper football and therefore we just make any judgements based on it.
Sadio was pretty awful last season and seemed to suffer more than most from the lack of intensity a full stadium inspires in players. His form should have been disregarded but human nature isn't like that and Mané therefore went into this campaign with some question marks lingering over him. Would he bounce back or was he in decline?
We got our answer. He was consistently very good throughout and had spells where he looked better than ever. In my opinion these last few months he’s been as good as he’s ever been, arguably even better considering the lack of familiarity he had in the position he was playing in. 23 goals he scored in total, including two in a Wembley semi final win over Man City, while he also found the net against them in both league games. We'll miss that.
What makes form even more impressive is that he really should have had a hangover after his heroics at AFCON. Mo came back and struggled, but Sadio came back and stepped it up even further. It helped that he won the bloody thing whereas Mo was beaten in the final, but still. How can you play that amount of games and never look fatigued? Sadio is a freak.
Since switching to a central role he’s been lights out. It felt like he scored in most games he played there, while his link up play has been brilliant at times. He was doing things that Bobby was known for doing, while still being able to do his usual Sadio things too. On the odd occasion he'd played through the middle before he'd had mixed results, but he really took to it this time and he linked the play surprisingly well.
Over the course of the season he scored some brilliant goals and he’s set some up too. His link up with Mo this year was better than it had been at any point since their first season together and it was a relief to see that those epic clashes between Senegal and Egypt didn’t put too much of a strain on their relationship. I admit I did worry how that might turn out but it seemed fine. Not that it matters now anyway.
Previous Season Ratings:
2020/21: Season doesn’t count
2019/21: 9.5/10
2018/19: 9/10
2017/18: 8/10
2016/17: 8.5/10
This Season’s Rating: 9
The first half of the season would be an eight and the second half would be a ten, so I’m meeting in the middle and going with nine. His form after being switched into the middle when Diaz arrived was as commendable as it was impressive. He's just a great team player.
Sadio was brilliant on the right in his first season here but got moved to the left after Salah joined. Mané shrugged, got on with it and produced even better form the next season.
Then Diaz comes in this year and Sadio is moved to the middle. Again, he just got on with it and upped his game again. He's a complete forward and he's a fucking warrior. I love him.
Best Moment:
The reverse pass to set up Mo's goal against the Mancs at Anfield. We know Sadio can score goals and is explosive, but seeing him do THAT was something else.
Honourable mention to his constant desire to close down goalkeepers that resulted in a goal at Wembley against City and also saw another one disallowed for an inadvertent handball.
Worst Moment:
The bizarre comments he made in the build up to the final. What was it, "I have great news, what you've all been wanting to hear" and then it turns out he was telling us he's off. Read the room Sadio, that isn't great news. Unless he was talking to the "60-70%" of Senagalese dickheads who want him to leave. On reflection, he was, wasn't he? That's the only thing that makes sense.
His pen in the FA Cup Final shoot out was bad too, but we got away with that so it has to be the weirdness from him pre-Paris.
The Future?
He's gone isn't he? I don't blame him and will wish him well but at no point did it ever truly feel like we were pushing the boat out to keep him. I just think that's a by product of the Salah situation. The club weren't going to lose both on a free so if Sadio is willing to leave now rather than sit out waiting on a Bosman then they were always going to go down that route because it would provide funds that could go towards the reshaping of the front line.
I don't like the idea of him leaving and I'll miss him, but given the shenanigans from Mo I don't really see much of an alternative here. Besides, it was time to break up the legendary front three anyway as it needs freshening up. Just a shame that Sadio is the one to leave when he's probably the one I'd personally have most liked to have kept.
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