Liverpool will be getting one or two extra players into the squad over the coming few days, though at least one of the star forwards will be prolonging their AFCON stay.
Mane on target…and off the pitch
See below at the bottom of this newsletter for the ‘incident’, let’s say.
But Sadio Mane proved both hero and hurt for Senegal on Tuesday, as he scored the all-important goal in a 2-0 win over Cape Verde to send his nation through to the AFCON last eight.
It wasn’t a vintage performance considering the beaten side actually had two players sent-off, but more worrisome is the fact that Mane was involved in a very heavy collision – a head injury no less – but was allowed to continue playing for a few minutes.
Mane scored soon after, bending a great strike in off the bar after a corner wasn’t cleared, then took the decision himself to go off, clearly in some distress. Hopefully no lingering issues there.
Meanwhile, Naby Keita will be en route to Merseyside soon after Guinea were eliminated in his absence – he was suspended.
First-team in their sights
- Harvey Elliott was given a brilliant reception by Blackburn fans as he went back to Ewood Park for the first time since his successful loan spell last year
- Virgil van Dijk has hailed the magnificent crossing ability of young attacker Mateusz Musialowski, calling his consistency “scary” after he impressed in training
- Rhys Williams is set to be the Reds’ fifth centre-back for the rest of the season – but Leighton Clarkson is likely to head back out on loan after they both returned early
Latest Liverpool FC news
- The Reds are set to hire a mental health therapist to aid players in coping with online abuse that they might receive
- Mo Salah has been held up as an example for why West Ham expect lots more to come from Jarrod Bowen…and perhaps why they want so much money for him!
- And the club have announced their plans to add Andrew Devine to the Hillsborough Memorial, with work set to take place on Friday
Latest Premier League chat
- Brenden Aaronson is the only player on Leeds‘ radar this winter, so presumably he must be able to fill in at full-back, centre-mid, up front and occasionally on the wing, so they don’t need to play 14-year-olds any more
- Newcastle have reloaded their aimless, sightless, multi-bulleted scattergun and they are firing in the vague direction of “a midfielder” – Jesse Lingard and Yves Bissouma are the latest players they want
- Andreas Christensen is top of Bayern’s wanted list to replace Niklas Sule on a free and that is a typically, disappointingly, impressive and sensible addition
Tweet of the day and match of the night
Sigh.
https://twitter.com/LusbyJack/status/1486026716896272386
Tonight it’s Forest vs Barnsley in the Championship or Morocco vs Malawi in the AFCON.
