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Who is the most important of our front three?


El Rojo
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Who is the most important of our front three?  

114 members have voted

  1. 1. Three magnificent footballers, but if you could only keep one, who would it be?



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There was a period of about 2 years where Mane was 8 or 9 out of 10 in every game, scoring 25 goals a season.

 

There were discussions about him replacing Barnes as our best ever left winger.

 

He couldn't sustain it.

 

Salah was always better as an individual. T was his teamwork that was in question.

 

He's now surpassed everyone with his goals plus link up play. Best player in the world.

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  • 3 months later...
12 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez C-137 said:

Numbers don't lie. Much higher goals, assets and consistency from Salah. Mane is a great player but his form is all over the place. Bobby even moreso.

The thing is, even when Mane is not having much luck up front he puts in a shift forward and back, and so I’m never disappointed when o see him named in the team.  

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Some of the criticism of Mane on here this season has been ridiculous. He's been really good. Never lets us down. 

 

Our current first choice front three is surely Salah/Jota/Mane. Will be interesting to see how quickly Diaz can stake a claim. Wouldn't be surprised to see him figure against Leicester, given the exertions of the Mo and Sadio. Interesting that he came on yesterday. 

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7 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Some of the criticism of Mane on here this season has been ridiculous. He's been really good. Never lets us down. 

 

Our current first choice front three is surely Salah/Jota/Mane. Will be interesting to see how quickly Diaz can stake a claim. Wouldn't be surprised to see him figure against Leicester, given the exertions of the Mo and Sadio. Interesting that he came on yesterday. 

Mane was poor last season. He has found a better level this season.

 

The criticism may come from the fact that his time might be running out here. 

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15 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Not sure what you mean by that. 

His contract is expiring soon, he's turning 30. His future at the club is uncertain. I've seen this quite often; when a player might leave, people will exagerate criticism, or in contrast, how good a player is, depending on if they think they should stay or go. You see this on the opposite side with Salah with the "pay him whatever he wants" shouts. Which when you take that literally, it's a pretty dumb thing to say.

 

I did this last season with Mané; I thought he would be a prime player to sell so I was over the top on how bad he was. This season, to his credit, he's been better, but there's still uncertainty around his situation and people remember last season. And there's still a good argument he should be sold.

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9 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Not sure what you mean by that. 

It's not really a mystery, is it?

 

Both Mo and Sadio turn 30 this summer (and Bobby is already 30), so it's clear that a rebuilding of our forward line will be necessary soon. To that end, we've already seen transfers for Jota and now Diaz.

 

We probably have the money to lock one of them down for the long-term, but since this is their last payday both Mane and Salah will want big money so it's almost certain we won't do it for both. Mo is far and away the better bet to continue his form for another couple of seasons, given that Mane is already declining. Not to say that he's rubbish, but you're not going to want to pay him 200k/week for 4 seasons given he's likely to be backup for most of the contract, certainly the latter years of it.

 

All of that adds up to the near certainty that we won't be renewing Sadio's deal. His time is running out here, probably, though whether that means a sale this summer or just keeping him until his deal expires remains to be seen. If anyone of our current starting lineup is to be sold this summer, however, it's probably him.

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4 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

His contract is expiring soon, he's turning 30. His future at the club is uncertain. I've seen this quite often; when a player might leave, people will exagerate criticism, or in contrast, how good a player is, depending on if they think they should stay or go. You see this on the opposite side with Salah with the "pay him whatever he wants" shouts. Which when you take that literally, it's a pretty dumb thing to say.

 

I did this last season with Mané; I thought he would be a prime player to sell so I was over the top on how bad he was. This season, to his credit, he's been better, but there's still uncertainty around his situation and people remember last season.

Fair enough. In broader terms, I'm pleasantly surprised we kept Salah and Mane together as long as we did (and Firmino to a lesser extent), given our ownership model and the fact that they achieved greatness and the holy grail with us by winning the European Cup and the league, which I thought might have been a natural enough departure point for one of them to somewhere like Real Madrid in 2020. It might be an example of the uncertainty of Covid helping us out a bit. 

 

Jota is a phenomenal striker and Diaz looks the business, so our succession planning doesn't seem too shabby at all. Still, Keita looked amazing until he joined us so I'll reserve judgement for now on the new lad. 

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14 minutes ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

It's not really a mystery, is it?

 

I wasn't questioning why some might see his time running out here, I was questioning the concept of some people criticising Mane more as a result of this, which the Ligue One guy has since elaborated on. 

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Salah is Henry level in term of talking about the greats this league has seen.  Mane is the run below with your overmars and Pires and there ain’t no shame in that.

 

The pictures of Mane in bed with the cup this morning we’re class. Salah crying though…he knew Mane wasn’t missing again.

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16 hours ago, stringvest said:

The thing is, even when Mane is not having much luck up front he puts in a shift forward and back, and so I’m never disappointed when o see him named in the team.  

For once we probably agree here. 

In answer to the original OP,whereas Firmino could very much have been considered the most important he is probably now the least important and is not even the first three now. Jota comes into the reckoning given his importance even without Mo and Sadio. I've got to say that Jota very much reminds me of Kevin Keegan. He might even end up with more goals too. 

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2 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

For once we probably agree here. 

In answer to the original OP,whereas Firmino could very much have been considered the most important he is probably now the least important and is not even the first three now. Jota comes into the reckoning given his importance even without Mo and Sadio. I've got to say that Jota very much reminds me of Kevin Keegan. He might even end up with more goals too. 

I agree, for his first few years here, Firmino was fantastic, linking up the play, pinching the ball, leading the press etc - it didn't matter that he wasn't scoring bucketloads of goals, because his other contributions were so important.  Unfortunately the last time he could do that with any consistency was at least two years ago; he's clearly the least mobile of our forwards, he's slow and he's the one getting the ball pinched off him on almost every occasion.  He contributes almost nothing.

 

Unfortunately, in their desperation to be right about Firmino, others just can't or won't see what Jota brings to the team.  I can't remember the last time I saw one of our forwards play with such energy and stamina.  Not only that, comes deep for the ball, he links the play, he goes out wide on both wings, and he even (as on Sunday) makes crucial interceptions in our own defence.  I agree with you about the Keegan likeness; for me the similarities are clearest when he is being harried and often fouled - unlike Firmino, who will just stumble over and give possession away, Jota - like Keegan - almost takes it like a personal affront, and gets his head down and battles to retain possession, and usually wins those battles.  Sometimes, like Keegan, those battles would be better not fought, and a simple ball to a teammate would be wiser, but you can't help but love his refusal to give in.  Of course, his spring, and his heading ability are very similar to King Kev's.  He's a menace.  

 

That said, I often get accused of sentimentality when lauding Keegan, but the big difference between then and now is that Keegan dragged that whole team, who were struggling up front, to another level, and was the catalyst for our most successful period.  Jota doesn't quite have to do that, what with our forward line already with a solid claim to be one of the very best.  

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16 minutes ago, stringvest said:

I agree, for his first few years here, Firmino was fantastic, linking up the play, pinching the ball, leading the press etc - it didn't matter that he wasn't scoring bucketloads of goals, because his other contributions were so important.  Unfortunately the last time he could do that with any consistency was at least two years ago; he's clearly the least mobile of our forwards, he's slow and he's the one getting the ball pinched off him on almost every occasion.  He contributes almost nothing.

 

Unfortunately, in their desperation to be right about Firmino, others just can't or won't see what Jota brings to the team.  I can't remember the last time I saw one of our forwards play with such energy and stamina.  Not only that, comes deep for the ball, he links the play, he goes out wide on both wings, and he even (as on Sunday) makes crucial interceptions in our own defence.  I agree with you about the Keegan likeness; for me the similarities are clearest when he is being harried and often fouled - unlike Firmino, who will just stumble over and give possession away, Jota - like Keegan - almost takes it like a personal affront, and gets his head down and battles to retain possession, and usually wins those battles.  Sometimes, like Keegan, those battles would be better not fought, and a simple ball to a teammate would be wiser, but you can't help but love his refusal to give in.  Of course, his spring, and his heading ability are very similar to King Kev's.  He's a menace.  

 

That said, I often get accused of sentimentality when lauding Keegan, but the big difference between then and now is that Keegan dragged that whole team, who were struggling up front, to another level, and was the catalyst for our most successful period.  Jota doesn't quite have to do that, what with our forward line already with a solid claim to be one of the very best.  

I don't think anybody in their right mind would deny that Jota is now in our first choice front three with Salah and Mane. Up to Diaz to stake his claim now and also for Bobby to show that he can still have a role. 

 

The timing of Origi's latest injury couldn't have been worse. He would have started most games over the last two months. He's unlikely to see many minutes with us again before a summer departure, I reckon. 

 

I like Minamino, tidy (if lightweight) little player and he's been good value, but again, hard to see him featuring much now with everyone back. 

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1 minute ago, El Rojo said:

I don't think anybody in their right mind would deny that Jota is now in our first choice front three with Salah and Mane. Up to Diaz to stake his claim now and also for Bobby to show that he can still have a role. 

 

The timing of Origi's latest injury couldn't have been worse. He would have started most games over the last two months. He's unlikely to see many minutes with us again before a summer departure, I reckon. 

 

I like Minamino, tidy (if lightweight) little player and he's been good value, but again, hard to see him featuring much now with everyone back. 

Yep.  I was gutted for Origi, but I think the latest acquisition may have forced him to think of a move in summer.

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