Clinton Morrison suggested that Sadio Mane has fallen out of form, following an uninspiring display in the Champions League.
Yet, that is exactly the phrase pundit Morrison favoured when discussing our forward’s latest performance on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Sadio Mane has been well off it. Something’s not right,” Morrison told BBC Radio 5 Live. “I’ve never seen Sadio Mane give the ball away as much as he has tonight. I’m one of his biggest fans but he’s been really sloppy.”
When we think of the Senegalese forward, the phrase “off it” doesn’t fit neatly within the litany of praise that has been lavished on Mane since he first joined our club in 2016.
Having only scored once since the 5-0 thrashing of Atalanta in October, Morrison may be right to raise some concerns over Mane’s recent goal returns.
However, despite only scoring twice in his last nine games (a drought by his own lofty standards), the former Southampton star is hardly out of form.
The beauty of our front-three, generally speaking, is that not every forward has to score in every game to be considered a vital cog in the finely-oiled machine that is our club – Bobby Firmino standing as a useful case in point.
As much as a lack of goals can be frustrating, the threat our Senegalese speedster provides on the left-flank can’t be narrowed down to goal contributions alone.
There will be a time when Jota’s goals run dry (a temporary glitch, we imagine), and Sadio Mane will once again reign supreme on the turf.
Much like the rest of the squad, we expect to see Sadio return to his normal self at the Amex on Saturday.
Sadio is not the only player to be ‘off it’. There have been several players over the last few weeks to only show glimpses of their skill and ball control. They have shown very little consistency in order to control a match situation when coming up against a difficult opponent – the Leicester game excepted.
The injuries have shown that we need more cover and that would in turn provide competition for places.