Alex Rogers explores the sticky situation that Mamadou Sakho has found himself in as a result of unprofessional behaviour.
Mamadou Sakho has taken a mighty fall from grace recently. From fan favourite and being regarded as Liverpool captain material, to a player who can’t make it into the first team and surrounded by never-ending controversy.
But is there hope for the once loved Mama to make it back into Klopp’s good books and into the first team?
Well, that’s a tough question to answer, actually. There’s no real answer – just speculation. But Sakho did play for the U23s on Wednesday night against Wolfsburg in a 2-1 defeat. The defeat came from a last minute goal which was pretty disappointing, to say the least, but the fact that Sakho is getting game time must be a good thing.
Saying that, Danny Ings is also playing for the U23s at the moment and I can’t see Ings not getting into the first team in the future. Ings and Sakho may just be playing at U23 level just to improve match fitness and get some game time, but it would suggest that the next step would be the first team.
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On another note, something is clearly up with with the relationship between Sakho and Klopp – something that we may not know about. Getting sent home from the preseason tour in America for turning up late on three separate occasions seemed to be the beginning of the rocky relationship between the two.
And Sakho’s recent outburst on Snapchat did not help at all. If you’ve not seen what he said then here it is: “Now it is 3 weeks I am fit to play games. I finished all my rehabilitation work. They don’t want me to play also with the second team. Lol! Why I don’t know.
“Still working hard like Scouse Soldier! Still not talking as I want to talk on the pitch… I will speak soon for the people who support me and don’t understand the situation.
“Still happy to live in my “Liverpool country” with my family hope I have chance to play to give my best like I try to do always.
“I accept the situation but I can’t accept the lie. The fans deserve to know the truth! Thanks for your support”
Firstly, on one hand, I see Sakho’s point of view. It must be very frustrating no longer being a first team player, let alone not even being allowed to train with the first team. No longer being a fan favourite must be hard to take.
However, on the other hand, that’s one of the most unprofessional things I’ve ever seen from a ‘professional’ footballer. Thinking that would help him get game time in the first team was very flawed logic on Mamadou’s part as it hindered him more than anything. You would never have seen Gerrard doing something like that.
But let’s not forget what kind of player Sakho is. On his day he is a fantastic player! He’s given every self-respecting Liverpool fan joy in the past, either from a monstrously good tackle or blocking a goal-bound shot. Yes, let’s not forget what Sakho has done for us.
But it’s very likely that we won’t be seeing Sakho in the first team for a long time with Lovren and Matip forming a great partnership and Klavan and Lucas even above Sakho.
As much as I love Sakho, and I’m sure many of you do too, he’s brought a lot of this on himself. He just needs to live with the consequences, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone forever. In fact, if he plays his cards right he could definitely be playing for the first team in the future again.
His commitment to Liverpool is unquestionable and yes, he’s made mistakes, but it would be foolish if he were to never play for us again. I can see Sakho potentially reclaiming his spot in the starting XI. Potentially.