Reds forward visibly annoyed with team-mate Mohamed Salah for not passing to him moments before being substituted in win over Burnley
Sunday 1 September 2019 14:57, UK
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson believes Sadio Mane's angry display in the 3-0 win over Burnley merely shows the level of competitiveness within the squad.
Mane, scorer of Liverpool's second just before half-time, appeared annoyed as he was substituted in the 85th minute, appearing to gesture at team-mate Mohamed Salah for not passing to him moments earlier.
Henderson and Joe Gomez were among the players to put an arm around the 27-year-old in an attempt to placate him and after the match manager Jurgen Klopp said everything had been smoothed over.
Henderson, however, said he was pleased to see it - even if it was from the usually mild-mannered Mane.
"I've seen it now and again (from him). Sadio is fine, he's a great lad," said the England international.
"That's just us pushing each other all the time. I think that's important. We all want to do better, we all want to improve, but we're really close and I think we can deal with that.
"I'm not sure (what set him off) to be honest. I couldn't really understand at first but then when he came in, he was laughing and joking.
"The most important thing was we got the result, Sadio knows that. He performed really well again. Him and Bobby were really big second ball. He had a fantastic game.
"Like I said, we want to push each other. We want to improve all the time, I quite like that now and again. I think we need it."
The win over Burnley was a clinical and professional performance which extended the top-flight's only 100 percent record to four matches and ensured Liverpool took a two-point cushion over Manchester City into the international break.
But Henderson insists the standards they are setting were not considered by the players to be sending a 'catch us if you can' message to their rivals.
"We're not setting them for anyone else, we're setting them for ourselves. That's what we want to do," Henderson added.
"We want to win every week, we want to perform every week and that's difficult because there are so many good sides in the Premier League and in Europe. It's really hard.
"Again for us, it's game by game. We come up against different tests each week and it's about giving everything every time we go onto the football pitch and we will see where we are at the end of the season.
"For me it's just about concentrating on what we need to do. We have been very mature in our performances, especially away from home.
"We want to continue that form, keep doing the right things, keep working hard as a team. If we do that, we can put on performances like that."
