Sadio Mane (Southampton)

It will be what it will be, I hope that my skepticism is unfounded and I turn out looking like an educated fool  wouldn't be the first time and if the club benefits it's all good.

It's better than that, we're seeing sprinklings of "Mane is arguably better than Coutinho" now as well.

Really, must have missed those, the only comparison I have seen of the two has been that Coutinho was not quite the players he is now when he first arrived either ...ie...inconsistant.

It will be what it will be, I hope that my skepticism is unfounded and I turn out looking like an educated fool  wouldn't be the first time and if the club benefits it's all good.

I am skeptical of Grujic & Zielinski as both players look to me as longer term projects whereas I think Karius, Matip & Mane should hit the ground running.

Really, must have missed those, the only comparison I have seen of the two has been that Coutinho was not quite the players he is now when he first arrived either ...ie...inconsistant.


I am skeptical of Grujic & Zielinski as both players look to me as longer term projects whereas I think Karius, Matip & Sane should hit the ground running.

Coutinho is still inconsistent.

Firmino and Coutinho went missing or never turned up for 2 thirds of last season , there is a stat for you. I saw that stat happen myself.

care to add some info to that nonsense? did they go 25 games without a goal or assist?

I really hope this goes through. I think he is a quality player and will give us something we haven't had in a while, pacey wide man who can put the ball in the net.
€30 million is probably €5 mill too much but then that's the way the it is now with transfer valuations.

Coutinho is still inconsistent.

Yup he disappeared the last month or so of the season and the last 3 Europa matches though he has been progressing nicely the past 3 season in adding goals and bossing games; his inconsistancies are probably why the Spanish have not seriously come in for him.

Most 22-23 year old's have inconsistencies do they not?  that was his age when he played the last two years at Southampton. Inconsistent or not 52 goals in 130 played is nothing to sneeze at for a winger.

The managers job is to coach out the inconsistancies, and seeing what the gaffer did with Lovren, Lallana & Origi I would not put it past him to make this pretty good player into a pretty great one.

he takes inconsistency to another level - it seems like the norm

as for what Klopp has done with Lallana, Lovren and Origi - i am not overly impressed.

Lovren did improve - but he was at rock bottom, he couldn't get worse - and i wouldn't say he is brilliant either
Lallana works his socks off and has good ball control, however he cant shoot for toffee and he does not create that much
Origi also works hard. But not say that he has 'improved' as he has only been here for a few seconds before Klopp arrived.

meanwhile the likes of Ibe are moon walking backwards

care to add some info to that nonsense? did they go 25 games without a goal or assist?

Did he go 25 matches without a goal or assist? I see a stretch last season where he went 16 matches with zero goals and only one assist; during this time he came off the bench 4 times in the last 20 minutes of the match.

Could you direct me to the timeframe of the 25 matches without a goal or assist?

He scored 8 goals in the final 8 league games

he has gone eternities without scoring too

I recently saw a stat that Mane failed to sore or assist in 25 of his 37 league games

Now before a few people start getting all worked up, crying and generally getting their knickers in a twist, I am not making a direct comparison here. But, people were once questioning whether Suarez was the natural goal scorer that we needed.
Coutinho, looked to be a player that was struggling to live up to his potential and was starting to be bounced about on loan.

It's amazing how things can change.

Also, Mane is a winger by trade, not an out and out goal scorer so I don't know why a few people are getting worked up over his lack of goals. Especially seeing as he got more goals than any of our lads last season and the season before apart from Gerrard (a number of penalties) and Sterling who have both since left. Mane over the last 2 seasons has 25 goals in 75 games.
Lets take a look at Coutinho who has been our most present attacking player in that time; 20 goals in 95 games over same period of time.

So seeing as people are questioning his goal record, maybe take a look at our own over the last couple of seasons because if stats are anything to go by, he would be adding something we don't have a great deal of.

Like I said the other day, I'm not justifying the fee, but I am starting to think this transfer makes sense and under Klopp has potential to build on.

care to add some info to that nonsense? did they go 25 games without a goal or assist?

Probably, who cares,  the money needs to be splashed out in order to compete now not in 10 years. There are no excuses any more.
  Seeing people flip out over a potential signing, like they know better than Jürgen is just so stressful and irritating.
The cycle was bound to start again even in his first summer transfer window with us.

If Mane didn't play for Southampton I don't think many would have a problem with him coming here.

If Mane didn't play for Southampton I don't think many would have a problem with him coming here.

I don't care who he plays for, for 30m I would expect us to sign a player that's pretty much a sure fire star. Maybe prices are inflated but at the price he'd still be our third most expensive signing would he not?

Eh, who cares at this point, just sign some players and get back to work. A title challenge awaits.

If Mane didn't play for Southampton I don't think many would have a problem with him coming here.

Agreed with this....spent the past 30 minutes trying to find the period of time where he went 25 matches without a goal or assist; probably going to have to dig a little deeper and look into his playground years with the under 10's in Senegal.

I don't care who he plays for, for 30m I would expect us to sign a player that's pretty much a sure fire star. Maybe prices are inflated but at the price he'd still be our third most expensive signing would he not?

Eh, who cares at this point, just sign some players and get back to work. A title challenge awaits.

Nah mate, Sterling went for £50m and he's certainly no star 

I don't care who he plays for, for 30m I would expect us to sign a player that's pretty much a sure fire star. Maybe prices are inflated but at the price he'd still be our third most expensive signing would he not?

Eh, who cares at this point, just sign some players and get back to work. A title challenge awaits.

£30M for a player with his record and talent seems to be the going rate FL.

Imagine we were linked to him and he played for Hoffenheim with a record of 21 goals in 68 league games.

Very few would even be questioning it. Most would be asking why it's taking so long to sign him.

Agreed with this....spent the past 30 minutes trying to find the period of time where he went 25 matches without a goal or assist; probably going to have to dig a little deeper and look into his playground years with the under 10's in Senegal.

Not to speak for another poster but didn't the original reference to 25 games mean he didn't score or assist in 25 of the 38 league games.

Not that he went on 25 game streak.

Someone else seemed to misunderstand the original reference.

If you're going to bang on about something, wouldn't be better to accurately reflect the original reference?

Not to speak for another poster but didn't the original reference to 25 games mean he didn't score or assist in 25 of the 38 league games.

Not that he went on 25 game streak.

Someone else seemed to miss understand the original reference.

If you're going to bang on about something, wouldn't be better to accurately reflect the original reference?

Does it really matter?  He scores goals and lots of them, from out wide, something we've not had for a very long time.

He's scored double figures for the last 4 seasons, he's no one season wonder and at just turned 24 years old he's coming into his prime, rather than a player who'll take a season or two to settle.

What's wrong with our fans (not you)? 

If any of our 3 behind the striker had that kind of record over the last couple of seasons, they'd be hailed a F***ing superstar!

Does it really matter?

Well, I suppose it could do to the original poster. Not registering a goal or an assist in two thirds of the games he plays could suggest inconsistency.

My point is, if you want to bang on about a statistic at least don't move the goalposts because it better suits your argument.

AZ is passing off the lack of a 25 game streak as him exposing the inaccuracy of a statistic that wasn't really ever put forth.

Nah mate, Sterling went for £50m and he's certainly no star 

True, only in his own mind.

£30M for a player with his record and talent seems to be the going rate FL.

Imagine we were linked to him and he played for Hoffenheim with a record of 21 goals in 68 league games.

Very few would even be questioning it. Most would be asking why it's taking so long to sign him.

Why is it taking so long

Why is it taking so long

Sunning it up in Senegal apparently, cheek of it!

Not to speak for another poster but didn't the original reference to 25 games mean he didn't score or assist in 25 of the 38 league games.

Not that he went on 25 game streak.

Someone else seemed to misunderstand the original reference.

If you're going to bang on about something, wouldn't be better to accurately reflect the original reference?

Could be KS...however if that was the intent of the post it also would be incorrect.

He scored or assisted in 15 matches. of the 37 played he did not play in 2 and was used as a substitute off the bench in 5 others.

Wellbuilts premise is that Sadio Mane is terribly inconsistent compared to others.

However if one looks a little closely at the 2015/2016 season it would appear that position is pretty inconsistent and that Sadio Mane is pretty much up there as far as averages for wingers go.

In 15 matches where Sadio Mane started and completed the match he did not score or assist.

In 12 matches where Roberto Firmino started and completed the match he did not score or assist.

In 16 matches where Philipe Coutinho started and completed the match he did not score or assist.

In 24 matches where Eden Hazard started and completed the match he did not score or assist.

In 13 matches where Gareth Bale started and completed the match he did not score or assist.

In 24 matches where Ronaldo started and completed the match he did not score or assist.

Well, I suppose it could do to the original poster. Not registering a goal or an assist in two thirds of the games he plays could suggest an inconsistency.

My point is, if you want to bang on about a statistic at least don't move the goalposts because it better suits your argument.

AZ is passing off the lack of a 25 game streak as him exposing the inaccuracy of a statistic that wasn't really ever put forth.

My point being does the inconsistency matter when he's scoring and assisting plenty. 

I seem to remember plenty of games when Macca failed to do much, it's the nature of being a wide player.  It's not like he's a striker where he's expected to score in most games.  If he's causing a nuisance, creating space and allowing others to thrive during those games then he's doing his job.

No doubt somebody will go and research which teams he scored against in an attempt to belittle them by calling him a flat track bully too.  Well if he is then that's even better because it's those flipping teams that we struggle to beat, so having one in the team again would help us massively.

As for the price, if his goals and assists earns us a place in the CL next season then he's paid for himself.

Like I said earlier, I don't understand our fans anymore if people can't see the benefits of this signing (if we get him).