Liverpool are the Mane men
Sadio Mane’s double helped Liverpool go top of the Premier League.
Liverpool are looking down on the rest of the Premier League this morning after comfortably dispatching lowly Cardiff.
The Reds cruised to three points, despite only occasionally hitting the heights, to continue their unbeaten start to the league season. But bursts of quality from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were simply too much for Neil Warnock’s limited side to handle.
Liverpool now sit three points ahead of Manchester City, who could go back above them if they win against Tottenham at Wembley tomorrow.
But they are ready for a real tilt at wrestling the crown away from City, and they are heading in the right direction.
With 26 points from 10 games, they are 10 points better off than they were at this stage last season. It leaves Klopp a happy man, as his side recovered from playing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League to pick up another win.
“I’m not sure we could have done better,” he said. “We played on Wednesday and today. We had to create and create and create. That is really hard work. You need fresh legs and fresh players for your most creative football. But you cannot change a full team because you need rhythm.
“Being top doesn’t make a massive difference to me, but the number of points does. The difference between 23 and 26 feels like 20 points, not three.
“It is unbelievable that five clubs have such a big number of points. It makes it more intense but good for the people and supporters of the clubs.
“For us, it is just the next step.”
Before the game, Warnock had described his team’s task of winning at Anfield as “virtually impossible”. That was underlined inside the opening 10 minutes as Liverpool went in front after a spot of pinball in the box.
Trent Alexander-Arnold fizzed in a cross which Sol Bamba failed to clear. It dropped to Mane, who turned sharply.
His effort was blocked by Sean Morrison, and then Georginio Wijnaldum was denied by Bamba, but there was no stopping Salah.
He pounced on the loose ball to put it in the net and continue his remarkable record at Anfield as that made it 33 goals in 35 games on his home turf.
The Egyptian then turned provider with a teasing cross for Virgil van Dijk, but the Dutchman’s header came back off a post. The hosts were threatening to overwhelm Cardiff and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge had to dash out of his box to clear as Salah was bearing down on him.
From Etheridge’s rushed clearance, the ball was worked back into Salah in the
box, and he went down under a challenge from Morrison and was amazed not to see a penalty awarded in his favour.
The foot came off the gas for Liverpool, but they almost had a second at the end of a half in which they enjoyed 86% of the possession, only for Morrison to head Lallana’s header off the line.
Liverpool struggled to find the accelerator after the break, but when they awoke from their slumber, they doubled their lead. Mane received Moreno’s pass, skipped past two flimsy challenges and lashed a fierce shot into the far corner.
But rather than see the game out comfortably, there was a sense of shock when Cardiff reduced the arrears with the first league goal Liverpool had conceded at Anfield since February 24 – after nine clean sheets and a total of 918 minutes.
Junior Hoilett’s low ball was inadvertently touched on by van Dijk and a sliding Callum Paterson knocked it past Alisson. If anything, it was the kick up the backside the Reds needed. Their tempo increased and two goals in three minutes put a gloss on the scoreline.
Salah was creator for both, as he set up substitute Xherdan Shaqiri to score his first Liverpool goal after cleverly making space for himself in the area.
Then the Egyptian exchanged passes with Mane for the Senegalese to gallop clear and lift his finish over Etheridge and round off the scoring.
This was a seventh loss in 10 matches for Cardiff, but five of those have come against the top five. It means Warnock is well-placed to assess the merits of the title contenders.
“I think Liverpool have more of a chance in the Champions League and the cup,” he said. “Manchester City have more, week-in, week-out in the league but I think Liverpool are the most improved team. They are really back in the big time now.
“We have played all the top teams and, even though the scorelines suggest we have, we haven’t really been pasted.
“We are competing the best we can and we will see surprise a few of the lesser teams.”