Southampton fc

When I said earlier this week that Sadio Mane will have to get past me before he ever leaves Liverpool, I was only half joking. I may not be able to shadow world-class strikers as much as in my prime, but in Mane’s case an exception can be made. Any club trying to lure him from Anfield this summer ought to face a blockade. Mane is my favourite Liverpool player of the Jurgen Klopp era - often underrated and underestimated. Since January, the tendency to overlook him while Mohamed Salah grabbed all the attention has slightly changed. If Mane continues his current form he may help inspire Liverpool to four trophies, including the FA Cup against Chelsea this weekend . He will also be the Premier League’s most likely winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or. The rules of the competition have been altered. When the nominees are considered, judgement will be based on performances across a European season rather than a calendar year. Which English-based player has had a bigger impact on the … [Read more...] about Sadio Mane is my favourite Liverpool player – and Premier League’s most likely Ballon d’Or winner

Mohamed Salah declared himself on course to be fit for Liverpool’s Champions League final against Real Madrid on May 28, after the Premier League’s leading goalscorer was substituted in the first half of his team’s FA Cup final triumph . Jurgen Klopp’s team claimed the FA Cup, their second domestic trophy of the season, with another penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea at Wembley after a 0-0 draw over 90 minutes and extra-time. The substitute Kostas Tsimikas scored the decisive penalty, the 14th of the shootout, after Cesar Azpilicueta and then Mason Mount had missed for Chelsea , as well as Sadio Mane for Liverpool. Asked later whether he would be fit for the game in Paris in two weeks’ time, Salah responded, “Of course”. Virgil Van Dijk also came off on 90 minutes although Klopp said that both were not carrying serious injuries and any impact would be assessed when the team train on Sunday. “I would be surprised if they were involved [in training],” Klopp said. Klopp … [Read more...] about Mohamed Salah declares himself fit for Champions League final after Wembley injury

“I always say we are a little bit like criminal detectives.” So says Dr Andreas Schlumberger, Liverpool’s head of recovery and performance, but it is hard to imagine even the most enlightened FBI agent employing anything more sophisticated than the extraordinary technology that is helping Liverpool in their quest for an unprecedented quadruple . Invented by the artificial intelligence company Zone7, who are based in California’s Silicon Valley, Liverpool have been using cutting-edge computer algorithms that both detect injury risk and recommend preemptive action. It all helps to explain why manager Jurgen Klopp chose to rotate nine key players in beating Southampton on Tuesday night, barely three days after needing 120 minutes to win the FA Cup. It perhaps also helps to explain how Liverpool have slashed their number of lost days this season to injury by more than a third and retained such remarkable performance levels across 61 games. News of the partnership can be … [Read more...] about Revealed: The Silicon Valley algorithm helping Liverpool cope with history-making quadruple assault