Could Liverpool’s Nabil Fekir alternative already be at the club?

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Jack Hallows ponders whether Sadio Mané could be the Nabil Fekir alternative that Liverpool fans didn’t even know they had.

Sadio Mané is back in Liverpool training and he’s brought with him a new squad number!

The Senegalese international will wear the no.10 jersey vacated by Philippe Coutinho back in January – the number he wears for his national side and used to wear at former club Southampton.

The winger is said to have an affinity for the number due to his love and admiration of Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho and it’s a fan favourite theory that he took the no.19 when he joined because 1 + 9 = 10.

While this number change seems an obvious choice on the surface, it certainly got me wondering whether there’s a deeper meaning.

With rumours circulating that Liverpool will no longer pursue a deal for French attacker Nabil Fekir and Klopp himself admitting he doesn’t “think we will do anything more” in the market this summer, could this signal a change of role for Sadio?

When Philippe Coutinho left the club in January of last season, there was a feeling that the Reds had lost not only a source of spectacular goals but also their main source of creativity.

Links emerged with Thomas Lemar – formerly of AS Monaco – while tentative first inklings of links to Nabil Fekir begun popping up on platforms such as Twitter but Klopp stood firm.

Whoever he wanted wasn’t available so he’d make do with what he had.

Preparation for Sad10? 

The manager’s answer to Coutinho’s exit was to field Oxlade-Chamberlain as the more advanced of his midfielders, with the Englishman’s role being to carry the ball forward at pace to link the rest of the midfield to the front three.

However, it didn’t stop there.

A subtle change in role for Mané was implemented around this time but it wasn’t until Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing of Watford that fans became truly aware of it.

While he’d spent much of the early campaign fielded solely as a left winger, hanging slightly wider than Salah on the opposite flank to help stretch opponents, the Senegalese speedster’s starting position had drifted further infield.

The best example I can give of this is to show you a comparison in the winger’s heat maps from an earlier fixture with Coutinho in the side to that of the Watford victory.

Below is Mané’s heat-map from the 3-0 victory at Anfield over Southampton from November last year.

Mané was fielded on the left, just like against Watford with a license to roam across the front three, taking up occasional positions in the centre and on the right as he interchanged with Salah and Firmino.

However, as you can see by the brighter heat spots on the pitch, his primary role was to get wide and high up the left side of the field, stretching the opposition defence to open up space for the likes of Salah and Coutinho.

With Coutinho supplying the service to the front three from a deeper midfield berth, it worked a treat. Especially for the Reds second goal of the game.

Now, take a look at his heat-map from the Watford victory in March, post-Coutinho.

While Mané was still fielded as a left winger and made a number of his 57 touches in wide positions, the main focus should once again be on those two darker heat spots.

Both are central with one slightly deeper, in the space between midfield and attack and the other similar to what you’d expect to see from a central midfielder rather than a winger.

When the Hornets visited Anfield the game plan was clear, Mané was dropping in and deep to pull defenders out of the visitors’ rigid five man back line, opening up space for Robertson to bomb forward down the left wing and act as an extra playmaker.

Whereas before, Liverpool’s fluid 4-3-3 had seen Firmino drop deeper and Mané/Salah remain high up the field, now Mané was the one dropping deeper and more centrally into almost a free-roaming no.10 role.

This gave the Senegalese attacker license to take up positions on the pitch wherever he was needed, rather than being stuck out wide for long periods. It also allowed far more interplay between himself, Salah and Firmino as a trio in the attacking third.

It’s likely that this contributed heavily to Salah and Firmino’s goalscoring form during the second half of last season and with the former Southampton man spending more time in central areas of the pitch, could also have contributed to his own increase in numbers in front of goal after the turn of the year.

Moving forward?

So how does this relate to the club’s pursuit of Nabil Fekir?

Since the Frenchman’s name first popped up as a target for Liverpool, there’s been a lot of conversation over what formation the Reds could look to play next season.

Would they stick with the fluidity of Klopp’s 4-3-3 and play Fekir as the most advanced of the midfield three?

Or would a switch to a more conventional 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 with Fabinho and Naby Keïta operating in a double pivot, allowing whoever is fielded in the ’10’ (likely Fekir) to operate with far more attacking freedom be more appropriate?

If Liverpool were to decide on the latter, regardless of whether Fekir is added to their ranks or not, Mané could very well be called upon to play in that all important free roaming no.10 role.

The Senegalese initially made his name at Southampton playing as a centre forward and his experience playing in a more creative role last season has only added to speculation that he could be called upon to do the same during this campaign.

The signing of Xherdan Shaqiri also means that the Reds do possess another attacking option to take his spot on the left flank if Klopp does opt for this switch up.

Of course, we saw last season that Mané can be just as creative from that left wing starting position and that the fluidity of the manager’s 4-3-3 allows him the freedom to drop inside whenever he feels like it.

In fact, his best ‘creative’ performance came against West Ham in the first emergence of the 4-2-2-2 formation last season when, fielded as a left midfielder, Mané set Salah up for both his goals in the 4-1 victory.

The first of course being a trademark devastating breakaway and the second a smart clipped ball over the top for the Egyptian to rifle home from just inside the area.

Encouragingly, it seems that whatever the position he’s asked to play, Mané can certainly fulfill that creative role if he needs to.

Of course, with the fluidity which Klopp’s front three operate, it doesn’t really matter where the forward is fielded from the start as, by his manager’s own admission, the game-plan is less about formation and more about a system.

With that said, however, don’t be surprised to see Klopp choose to hold off on purchasing another attacker and look to utilise Mané’s creative abilities with far more prominence this season – especially with the return to fitness of Adam Lallana.

Let us know down below what you think. Should Liverpool still be pursuing another attacker even if Fekir is off the table? Or, would you like to see Mané given a chance to impress in a more creative role?