Michael Owen told Premier League Productions that Sadio Mane would have been ‘boiling even more’ after he was substituted during Liverpool’s 7-0 win on Saturday because he would have seen the likes of Mo Salah scoring.
Even though Liverpool were winning 4-0, Mane had scored and they had the three points wrapped up, the club’s £36 million signing [BBC Sport] wasn’t too pleased that his manager opted to bring him off just before the hour mark at Selhurst Park.
It was Salah who replaced his attacking teammate, with the left-footed speedster from Egypt netting a brace and supplying an assist during his brief time on the pitch.
Owen shared his thoughts on Mane’s reaction whilst being subbed and made quite the claim about how the player would have been feeling when he was sat on the bench.
“Normal [reaction],” said Owen. “It’s normal. But it just shows you how hard it is to keep a happy camp as a manager. He is absolutely fuming coming off. The game is over. The manager is only doing it for his benefit. Everything is perfect in many ways, but that just shows you the hunger.
“If he had done that to Firmino, that would have been fine. He would have walked off, a smile on his face, giving high-fives to everyone. But people like Salah, people like Mane, they are made of different type of things.
“I would argue that you cannot score the number of goals that they score without having that attitude. Firmino will score 10, 12, 14 goals a season with a happy attitude. He will love to assist – but he will never score the goals Mane and Salah score because of that.
“I bet you as soon as he comes off, he sees Salah scoring and everyone else scoring then he would have been boiling even more.”
In truth, supporters would rather see their players react in such an angry fashion to being subbed rather than being happy to go off.
It’s that elite mentality that, no matter how high they set it, it isn’t enough and it’s a big reason as to why they have added so many trophies to their cabinet under Jurgen Klopp.
Given that Klopp rested Salah for the Palace game, he will now, more than likely, rest Mane for Liverpool’s Boxing Day clash against West Brom, with Salah the one potentially being subbed after 60 minutes for Mane, so it will be interesting to see his reaction if that happens.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
