SADIO Mane wants to end the league season with 112 points.
Sadio Mane wants to win a game 10-0 because Leicester City beat Southampton 9-0 last week.
Sadio Mane wants to win the Carabao Cup.
The Senegal forward wasn’t present at Anfield for last night’s berserk penalty shootout win over Arsenal, but he and his senior teammates will be delighted with the spirit and application on display on the turf he occupies so regularly.
Those present in the stadium witnessed an enthralling encounter, but one so different from what has become Anfield normality. It was akin to some sort of pre-Halloween twilight zone.
Youngsters the likes of Neco Williams, Rhian Brewster and Sepp van den Berg were at times let down by their elder peers, while Arsenal left Merseyside wishing they had a few more of Gabriel Martinelli’s ilk as opposed to Mesut Ozil’s.
While it was a night of unfamiliarity in many forms, the one constant now present within Liverpool Football Club is the refusal to accept when it is beaten. The Reds have displayed the fact that such a mentality stretches far beyond the first-team squad which has been seeped in heroics in recent times.
Indeed, its mentality monsters concept is now the bedrock of the whole football club; from the first 11 down to those on the fringes, to every member of staff and supporters invested in it. There is always one more with this Liverpool team, always a way while their is belief.
From Mane and Mohamed Salah to Carol and Caroline in the Melwood canteen, the club can cite their superior mindset and assert it in any situation, none more so than against an Arsenal side who are the antithesis of what Liverpool currently represent.
The Gunners’ back four last night wouldn’t look out of place in a Premier League fixture, yet they were terrified by every Liverpool attack, despite its inexperience. Indeed, there isn’t a fragility in the football book which the visitors don’t possess, and that the home team have rid themselves of in recent years.
How satisfying then that some of the more infrequent supporters, who haven’t had the access or privilege of watching this team blossom in recent times, got to bask in the experiences the minority of us get to see on such a regular basis now.
The same can be said for those on the pitch, who have remained patient but eager to contribute as that fortitude and winning mentality has been developed over time. Last night is a night they get to keep as part of this magical period in modern Liverpool history we are all experiencing.
And how fitting that the icing on the cake came from Curtis Jones. The teenager who epitomises Scouse resilience, youth and attitude.
The Toxteth-born youngster is a reminder that the people at this football club matter, because they all have a hand in making it what it is. Jones felt needed and wanted at Liverpool despite encountering a tricky junction in his journey, and duly repaid such an investment into his development with his superb cameo.
With the first team set to relocate to Kirkby’s Academy this summer, such innate belief should only manifest further for those coming through the ranks and waiting on the fringes, as well as creating a greater togetherness across the board if possible.
What remains for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup this season is anyone’s guess, with the fixture due to be played at the same time The Reds are in Qatar for the Club World Cup.
Right now that doesn’t matter. Not for those players on the pitch last night. Not for Jürgen Klopp. And especially not for Sadio Mane.
For more reaction to the young Reds’ win over Arsenal, download our free Anfield Wrap app…
"Klopp was stood on the sidelines laughing his head off, he didn't know what the fuck was going on!
"That scissors kick. Origi!" 😂
📱 Subscribe for all of our reaction to Liverpool’s FIVE FIVE (5-4) win over Arsenal 👉 https://t.co/TEMh9r97WH pic.twitter.com/1UYmVg59MM
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) October 30, 2019
Recent Posts:
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
I clearly missed a reference here with all the Mane talk!