Scout Notes – Mane On The Money

Sadio Mane hits a hat-trick as Liverpool beat Porto 5-0 in a Champions League Round of 16 rout.

Another day, another Premier League team who will have the luxury of resting key players when the second leg of their European tie comes around in March.

Not that Liverpool have too many worries surrounding fatigue at the moment anyway.

The Reds will play just twice before they face Porto again on March 6 – over the same period, Man City have four matches.

Even so, coach Jurgen Klopp will be able to rotate till his heart’s content for that second leg, particularly with a huge Gameweek 30 clash at Man United coming four days later.

With no FA Cup match to play this weekend, Klopp has taken his troops for warm weather training before they resume league action with a visit from West Ham.

Another home match, against Newcastle, follows in Gameweek 29 before Porto visit Anfield three days later. That clash with the Magpies looked to be a rotation hot-spot but that’s no longer the cash after Tuesday’s convincing win.

The trip to Old Trafford will then make it three matches in a week for Liverpool, marking out the Champions League fixture as the obvious place to rest key assets, despite Klopp’s post-match insistence that the tie is far from done.

“I am too long in the business to think anything is sorted before the final whistle. We owe our supporters at Anfield a 100% performance and that’s what we want to deliver.”

Those supporters should forgive him if he fields a weaker team, while Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers will be positively demanding it.

Liverpool players are becoming increasingly attractive options, with an excellent schedule involving just three tough encounters – the Man United match, a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park and a trip to Chelsea – over the final 11 Gameweeks of the season.

The Reds are also one of only four teams currently guaranteed a Gameweek 31 fixture. They’ll entertain Watford on a weekend otherwise hugely disrupted by the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Form, as well as fixtures, are on Liverpool’s side at present.

Mane’s hat-trick last night caught the eye, although it followed a patchy four-match run in the league in which he’d managed just one assist.

His manager, understandably, was delighted at the winger’s upturn in output.

“He gave the right answer. We met on the pitch after the last game and I said to him: ‘Finally, you are back’. Tonight he showed it again.
He was always important, he was always fantastic for us even in his ‘not that good’ moments. That’s real quality.
If you are not at 100% but still involved in goals that’s really important. Then it will come, if you keep working really hard like he did”.

Mohamed Salah’s goal in Portugal was his 30th in all competitions this season, while Roberto Firmino made it 4-0 on the night to back up a domestic run involving three goals and two assists over his last five starts.

The Brazilian is currently in the top 10 for Gameweek 28 transfers-in, with 52,000+ new FPL managers.

Mane could now prove a hugely effective differential for the forthcoming period. With Salah and Firmino such fixtures in many FPL squads, it seems likely that Mane’s 7.3% ownership will merely simmer. Those with Salah and Firmino are perhaps more likely to fill their third Liverpool slot with a defensive option, therefore overlooking Mane for the spell leading into Gameweek 31.

Virgil van Dijk will likely be that defensive acquisition. He is enjoying only a modest increase in ownership despite the fact that Liverpool have now kept three clean sheets in their last four matches in all competitions.

The 5.5-priced Dutchman is also an obvious candidate to replace Man City’s Nicolas Otamendi (6.4) in many FPL squads.

Owned by 30.6%, the Argentine is due a rest – he’s started all but one league match this season – and City have managed just one shut-out in six Gameweeks. They are also likely to have a blank Gameweek 31 unless Wigan pull off a major surprise in this weekend’s FA Cup tie.

It would be equally surprising if more managers don’t buy into Van Dijk before Gameweek 28’s deadline next Saturday morning, particularly as the make-up of the rest of the Reds’ defence is far from settled.

Klopp opted for Dejan Lovren at centre-half last night, but has used Joel Matip just as frequently in recent weeks, while Joe Gomez returned from injury to be used a second-half substitute. That could well end Trent Alexander-Arnold’s three-match run as the starting right-back when West Ham visit.

Alberto Moreno was fit enough for the bench against Porto, yet Andrew Robertson, who has started the last five Gameweeks, remains in the driving seat for the left-back berth.

The Scottish international was excellent yet again last night and offers as much attacking threat as Moreno, but without the Spaniard’s defensive shortcomings.

Meanwhile, keeper Loris Karius has now started the last six matches in all competitions.

Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner and substitute Danny Ings all provided assists in Portugal, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana watched the match from the bench and Emre Can had the night off.