Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both showed good form recently. Their back-to-back performances must buoy Liverpool – the Reds have little choice.
We recently gushed over Sadio Mane’s performance against Burnley. That’s right – someone played well against Burnley.
It was hard to notice, though. No one else was on Mane’s level and no matter how much he created, nothing happened.
Mane set up nine chances in that game – an absolutely insane number. Only seven Liverpool players have managed more than that in the Premier League all season. And he’s one of them.
The best average for the Premier League is 3.6 per game, for some perspective.
So Mane went into the game having created 25 chances for the campaign, then boosted his numbers by over one third. Just incredible.
No one did anything with it, of course. But it was a sign that Mane was out of his poor form, contributing at the highest level.
All he needed, really, was for someone else to catch up. And it appears someone has.
Brace
Mohamed Salah bagged two goals in a game. That’s more than Liverpool have managed in the Premier League post-Christmas.
Salah looked sharp with his movement against a United team that’s playing well. Even better, he finished chances. It’s exactly what Liverpool need.
This was the best Salah has looked since the win over Crystal Palace. By an absolute mile, too – he looked like Salah, to put it succinctly.
Couple that with Mane’s performance against Burnley and this is actually really encouraging. The two of them played as we know them to, like world-class attacking forces.
The defence isn’t great right now but it hasn’t been the real problem. Liverpool may have scored twice in the Premier League since Christmas but they’ve only conceded three. And never more than one in a game.
And those goals all came from stupid errors. There was Curtis Jones giving the corner away against West Brom. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s missed header against Southampton. And Alisson’s penalty against Burnley.
They’re not signs of a weak defence – they’re just mistakes as a team plays badly under pressure.
We’re not for a second saying the defence is good right now. It’s plainly not and we hope Liverpool act.
But the real problem has undeniably been the forwards. If they played at their peak, none of those three goals mean anything and Liverpool win every game.
Fortunately, Salah and Mane are both in form. They’re the ones you want in form, of course, as Liverpool’s top scorers with 19 Premier League goals between them.
Hopefully, their poor spells are done for the season. We’ll find out on Thursday, of course, as Liverpool face Tottenham Hotspur.
Fingers crossed, then, as Liverpool will really need them at their best.
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