BBC pundit Garth Crooks was left blown away by the impact that Liverpool duo Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane had against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
The two players were influential as the Reds ground out a vital 2-1 victory over Mauricio Pochettino’s side, and Crooks was very impressed by the pair of them.
Of Alexander-Arnold he wrote on the BBC Sport website: “Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass on the run for Sadio Mane in the first half was out of this world. There are very few full-backs who have such an acute appreciation of the sort of pass a striker needs but Alexander-Arnold is certainly one of them. More importantly he has the ability to provide the pass. Quite apart from anything else he is back to his best after what I thought was a shaky start to the season for such an accomplished youngster.
And on Mane: “Two seasons ago it was Mo Salah who was carrying Liverpool. Last season it was Virgil van Dijk who had a massive influence on the success of the team. This season it’s Sadio Mane who is carrying Liverpool on his shoulders. His speed, power and strength have been a feature of Liverpool’s play this season and without the Senegal international, life at the top would be considerably less comfortable. It was Mane who caused mayhem in Tottenham’s ranks the entire match and the reason they lost. With a little help from Serge Aurier, of course.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that these were two of the Liverpool players most influential in Sunday’s victory. It was Mane, after all, who won the game-winning penalty after drawing the rash Aurier in. Mohamed Salah stepped up to convert it, and Bob’s your uncle! Liverpool’s six point gap at the top of the Premier League table was restored. However, they likely wouldn’t have managed to engineer that opportunity if it wasn’t for Alexander-Arnold’s constant probing down the right hand side of the pitch. The quality and the consistency of the crosses that the England international whips into the box is absolutely outstanding. At times you wish Liverpool still had an Andy Carroll or a Christian Benteke type just to convert those balls in – only for a minute, though. The youngster did really well to bounce back from making a slight mistake for Harry Kane’s opening goal, and both he and Mane were sensational on Sunday.
