Monday 19 December 2016 19:59, UK
Sadio Mane has settled quickly at Liverpool but that should be no surprise. Jurgen Klopp is a long-time admirer of a player well familiar with his style of play. Ahead of Monday's Merseyside derby, Adam Bate looks at why Mane's journey prepared him for this moment...
On Monday night Jurgen Klopp will get the Goodison Park experience for the first time as a coach. But in Sadio Mane, at least the Liverpool boss has a man who scored a late equaliser for Southampton in his only previous start there. It's not the only reason why Klopp will be counting on his summer signing. Mane has given this Liverpool side something extra.
Adam Lallana took centre stage in Wednesday's win at Middlesbrough. Jordan Henderson provides control in midfield. But it's the blend that matters to Klopp and so while some supporters might have craved a more exotic acquisition than yet another arrival from Southampton, the manager identified in Mane the qualities that could make others better.
"It's not about having the best," said Klopp earlier this season, "it's about doing the best." And Mane's pace and enthusiasm is helping Liverpool to press the Klopp way. That's no coincidence. The 24-year-old is the perfect fit for this Reds side because he's already steeped in the German's way of playing. Born in Africa. Built in Austria.
Mane was a homesick teenager at Metz before making a good impression in France's second tier. "I'm fast, I'm explosive and I think I'm a bit of a dribbler," he said at the time. The talent was there but so much more has been added since and that owes much to Mane's two seasons playing under Roger Schmidt at Red Bull Salzburg.
Schmidt cites Klopp as an "inspiration" because of his high-tempo approach. "What Klopp showed at Dortmund," he told the Times earlier this year, "is that, by being aggressive off the ball, it was possible to beat Bayern Munich over a whole season. That is only possible with this style. A lot of coaches saw that and took their ideas into their way of playing."
He would eventually use Klopp's example to rival Dortmund and Bayern himself as Bayer Leverkusen's coach, taking third spot in the Bundesliga last season. But Schmidt first experimented with these tactics in Salzburg and impressed his ideas upon the young Mane after signing him in the summer of 2012.
It did not take the Senegal international long to thrive there. He scored eight goals in his first 12 starts and would even go on to net the opener in a 3-0 friendly win over Pep Guardiola's Bayern in his second season. Schmidt praised Mane's positivity. Mane's respect for Schmidt endures. "I learned about tactics and different ways to play the game," he said recently.
When Schmidt talks of needing conviction to play his brand of football - "there are few moments of relaxation" - there are echoes of the style utilised in the Premier League by Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino. Perhaps that's why when Mane joined Southampton soon after Pochettino's exit in 2014, he was ready not only for English football but for Klopp football.
The Liverpool manager swerved the opportunity to sign the player that summer but he had no intention of missing out again. "With Sadio it was pretty simple because I made the mistake at Dortmund where I didn't take him," admitted Klopp. Two years on and he's getting an improved Mane playing at the peak of his powers.
With seven goals and four assists, Mane went into the weekend as one of only three players - alongside Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez - to rank among the top dozen Premier League scorers and creators. And he's doing it from the right flank. But that's only the end product. It's the process behind his play that really reveals the work behind Liverpool's success.
Guardiola might wonder what tackles are but Klopp could hardly contain himself when James Milner produced one late on in the Europa League semi-final win over Villarreal last season. Mane likes a tackle too. He attempted more of them than any attack-minded player in that competition during his final season at Salzburg.
At Liverpool, he ranks among the top 20 midfielders for winning the ball back. It's a mind-set. "If you want to win, you have to defend as a team and we press high," said Mane soon after his arrival at the club. "I think that's the key to our success and we'll keep doing it. I'm happy with that and I try to do it." The numbers bear that out.
Mane has made 70 or more high-intensity sprints in eight different Premier League matches so far for Liverpool. To put that into some sort of context, the Manchester United squad have hit that number only four times between them so far this season. He has spoken of "trying to move between the lines" and it's this thrust that is opening the spaces for others to exploit.
Sadio gives width and space. We don’t have slow players but he is a specific kind.
"From the first moment it was pretty much clear that he would be good for us," said Klopp. "Sadio gives width and space. We don't have slow players but he is a specific kind." He added: "It is all about protection and being an option. When you don't protect you need to be an option to get a pass or create some space. That is how we want to use him."
Mane is expected to be used again in this role in the Merseyside derby, a game that pits him against his old Southampton boss Ronald Koeman. The Dutchman dropped him twice for his poor timekeeping and the pair endured a strained relationship. But it's Mane's relationship with Schmidt - and now Klopp - that has made him a man to watch this Monday.
