Ben: Nobody does it better
moment. There are times when he gets the ball that as a keeper he just worries you.
“He can do anything. Go inside, outside, drop a shoulder and his movement is incredible and his work rate.
“But they all frighten you. Any of the good ones. There his quality,” said Mane. “It was a wonderful goal and I am very happy for him.
“We know how he can move the ball, he showed it against City, another great goal, for him to score goals like this is normal.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insisted that Salah is better than Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and deserves to be regarded as the best in the world.
But Mane has a different take. He
“Ronaldo, for example, if he is within shooting distance of the goal he can make the ball go up and down, dip left and right.
“There are plenty of players in the Premier League
believes Salah is not just the best but Firmino is alongside him and playing with them is just a dream.
“I’ve always said it’s very easy to play up front with these two guys,” said Mane. “They are the two best players in the world and we cause defences many problems.
“By moving quick, dropping deep, making runs — that makes the difference. Hopefully we are going to keep going like this and score as many goals as we can.”
Figures
Mane already has six goals in all competitions this season, Firmino’s hat-trick takes him up to six and, incredibly, Salah is already into double figures and it is only just past mid- October.
When these three click, they are the best front
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Shooting
aline in the Premier League.
Liverpool have conceded six goals which is more goals than some of the rest but the strike force more than make up for any defensive deficiencies.
The Firmino hat-trick was also quite something because two were tap-ins from low crosses and the other on a plate from a rebound from Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster’s save.
But the movement, the incisive and slick passing made it happen and look easy.
Mane is confident the problems of last season – form, injuries throughout the squad and inconsistency – are behind Liverpool and they will be back to challenge for the title they won in such style in the 2019/20 season.
“It was hard for myself but it was hard for the team and sometimes that’s normal but that’s behind us now,” added Mane.
W D L F A Pts
Chelsea 8 6 1 1 16 3 19 Liverpool 8 5 3 0 22 6 18 Man City 8 5 2 1 16 3 17 Brighton 8 4 3 1 8 5 15 Tottenham 8 5 0 3 9 12 15 Man Utd 8 4 2 2 16 10 14 West Ham 8 4 2 2 15 10 14 Everton 8 4 2 2 13 9 14 Brentford 8 3 3 2 10 7 Wolves 12 8 4 0 488 12 Leicester 8 3 2 3 13 14 11 Aston Villa 8 3 1 4 12 12 10 Arsenal 7 3 1 3 5 10 10 Crystal Palace 7 1 4 2 8 11 7 Southampton 8 14 3 6 10 7 Watford 8 2 1 5 7 15 7 Leeds 8 1 3 4 7 15 6 Burnley 8 0 3 5 5 13 3 Newcastle 8 0 3 5 10 19 3 Norwich 8 0 2 6 2 16 2
who can do it.”
Foster ( also paid tribute to Salah’s wonder goal, admitting he had no chance with the shot because he did not even see it.
“I just remember him having three or four players around him,” he said.
“His feet are so quick that players are scared to dangle a foot.”
Dream
“I said from the beginning, now that it can be a different season for all of us and you can see it so hopefully we are going to go for the titles which is our dream, that’s what we are looking at and what we are working for.”
Watford were a mess, they did not look as if they knew what they were supposed to be doing.
And if Claudio Ranieri can turn this around, it might just be his biggest achievement.
But the Tinkerman will take comfort from not having to play Liverpool every week.
CLAUDIO RANIERI will make his players sit through their own video nasty after admitting they gift wrapped three points for Liverpool.
Watford boss Ranieri was brought in to tighten up the defence and promised his squad a slap up meal if they kept a clean sheet but ended up shipping five goals.
‘The Tinkerman’ will make the players watch it again but says he will stick with them in the hope they will improve and dig their way out of relegation danger.
Ranieri said: “We gave Liverpool very nice presents and that’s the first problem I tell to my players. You have to be compact to stop this, we were spread out and they come very, very quickly.
“We will watch the game back and I will show them the video, then tell them, ‘Look what happened. You can do this — or not’. That’s it.
Improve
“The problem was Liverpool! Maybe because there’s a new manager, they want to do something good.
“We wanted to play quickly forward, press everything and during the training session it was good. In the game it wasn’t good.
“It’s one thing to improve in a training session but Liverpool is no training session.
“We play, we made mistakes but we will stick with them and will try to improve on our mistakes.
“They must always be confident and positive.”