Rio Ferdinand claimed that Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane was a defender’s nightmare as the forward can hurt teams in so many different ways.
The pundit was asked how a defender could look to stop Liverpool’s front three and he proceeded to single out Mane ahead of trying to explain how he would handle facing the Reds as a centre-back.
“I just think from a defender’s point of view, he’s a nightmare as a matchup,” said Ferdinand on BT Sport 1 (19:36, Wednesday, October 23rd).
“As he has so many ways to hurt you.”
Mane has scored nine goals, as well as assisted two, in his first 13 outings of the season and was even on the scoresheet on Wednesday night during the Reds’ 4-1 victory over Genk.
OPINION
Ferdinand may have won the Premier League six times and won 81 caps for England, but it seems even he would lose sleep over the idea of facing Mane, and who can blame him? Not only is the Reds forward in prolific form this season, but he’s also the type of forward that there seems no obvious way to stop. Mane doesn’t mind a physical challenge so can’t be bullied and given that he has pace as well as slick dribbling skills, he has completed 1.8 dribbles on average per game this season (Source: WhoScored), it’s not like he isn’t going to take every opportunity to breeze past a defender. Also, it’s worthing noting that if you stopped the 27-year-old when facing Liverpool, you’ll still have to worry about Roberto Firmino as well as Mohamed Salah getting the better of you. So when you consider that, it’s no wonder that Ferdinand believes Mane should be considered a defender’s nightmare, as you know one way or another he is going to terrorize you.
