Owen suggests Mane didn’t go to ground to stop Salah from getting another penalty

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Michael Owen has suggested that Sadio Mane’s failure to go to ground after a challenge in the 18-yard-box from Andreas Christensen was due to the 28-year-old’s reluctance to hand his teammate Mo Salah a penalty.

Jurgen Klopp’s men fell to another defeat at Anfield, their fifth at home in a row, to hand the German a much unwelcome record.

“I couldn’t believe he didn’t go down there and look, I’m not advocating he does. It was a great touch and he possibly thought he might get a chance at the end of it… but he did something similar a week ago (against Sheffield United),” the former Liverpool man told Optus Sport (via the Echo). “I just wonder, and it might be a little bit of devious thoughts creeping into my head, Mo Salah is the penalty taker in this team, and if he (Mane) thinks he’s getting a chance to score he thinks ‘well I’m going to score, if I don’t stay on my feet, Mo Salah’s going to get another penalty’.”

We’ve heard some absolutely ludicrous theories in our time, but this one has to top the cake.

The idea that the Senegalese would deliberately jeopardise our chances in order to stop his teammate from further pulling away in the scoring charts is just sheer insanity.

READ MORE: (Video) Klopp issues rallying call to LFC squad after Chelsea defeat: ‘You need to fight’

Our forwards can’t seem to catch a break from pundits at the moment – if they dive they’re cheaters, if they don’t go to ground they’re holding the team back and possibly, according to Owen, conspiring against their own teammates.

Mane hasn’t been at his most exhilarating best for us this season, but the idea that he’d be so petty is just out of the question.

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