Former Republic of Ireland international Tony Cascarino has claimed that he ‘cannot remember’ a performance as good in Premier League history as Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane’s against Everton.
The Senegal international was absolutely sensational on Wednesday night, scoring and grabbing two assists in the Reds’ 5-2 victory over their Merseyside rivals.
Cascarino was blown away: “Since the Premier League began in 1992 I cannot remember seeing as fine a performance as Sadio Mané produced for Liverpool in the first half last night,” he wrote in his column for The Times. “The forward absolutely ripped Everton apart and it was no surprise when the visiting side decided to take off Djibril Sidibé, the right back, before the interval.
“Mané had absolutely everything: there was movement, desire, vision, brilliant control and a direct approach that caused no end of damage. His passes for two of the goals were fantastic — especially for the first by Divock Origi — and he got on the scoresheet himself.”
OPINION
Mane was absolutely out of this world on Wednesday, but this is a colossal claim from Cascarino. To say that Mane’s display against Everton was the absolute best, the gold standard number one performance in the 27-year history of the Premier League is just too big of a claim. Yes, he was world class, but there must have been a better display over the past 27 years. You’d have to go through and look at them all and weight them up next to Mane, but there’s no doubt he was scintillating against the Toffees. The statistics demonstrate as much. As per WhoScored.com, the former Southampton man produced three shots, two key passes and four successful dribbles. He obviously scored with a very well taken goal, while providing two marvellous assists. It’s no surprise that he came away with a fabulous WhoScored rating of 9.26. So, yes, he was a class above every other player on the pitch at Anfield, but the best ever Premier League performance is a bit of a stretch.
