Former Premier League winner Gary Neville has heaped praise on Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane for his performance against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
The Senegal international won the game-deciding penalty, converted by Mohamed Salah, as the Reds claimed a vital 2-1 win at Anfield. Neville was blown away by the former Southampton man.
However, he also had stern words for one of his teammates: “Man of the match was close – it would have been Trent Alexander-Arnold but he’s had a few difficult moments defensively,” he told Sky Sports [18:19].
“Sadio Mane has been really good – a nightmare for Spurs the whole game.”
OPINION
Neville mentions two Liverpool players, here, and he’s probably been a bit harsh on Alexander-Arnold. The 21-year-old didn’t do particularly well for Harry Kane’s opener, it’s true, but from that moment on he had a magnificent game, particularly going forward. The consistency of his crossing is just unbelievable. He whipped unbelievable ball after unbelievable ball into the Spurs box, and was rather unlucky that none of them were converted by the Reds’ attack. Over to Mane, though. The 27-year-old was superb once again for Liverpool, giving the visitors fits from start to finish at Anfield. As per WhoScored.com, Mane had two shots, produced two key passes and embarked on a successful dribble. He was also fouled twice, including by Serge Aurier for the crucial game-winning penalty. He did have eight unsuccessful touches, which is appalling, but you kind of accept that as part of his game. His WhoScored rating of 7.28 tells you that he produced a terrific display despite that.
