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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
In an interview with bwin, Liverpool legend Danny Murphy raised his concerns about the side resting Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane for the beginning of the season following their Africa Cup of Nations exploits.
What did he say?
The Reds’ star attacking duo have both been away on international duty with Egypt and Senegal respectively, and whilst Salah’s nation made an early exit from the competition, Mane will likely be involved in Friday’s final against Algeria.
Amid the typical three-to-four week break that gets given to players following the end of their campaigns, both Salah and Mane’s involvement for the opening Premier League game of the season against Norwich is in doubt; now Murphy has expressed his worries.
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He said: “Liverpool have to be careful with resting Mane and Salah early in the season or they risk giving City a head start in the league. Mane and Salah are likely to need a rest during the season as they’ve played so much football, but Klopp may have to wait until 10 or so games in to do so.
“Teams will fancy their chances more against Liverpool if they see Mane and Salah’s name missing from the team sheet. Liverpool need to avoid giving teams that psychological head start.”
Need to think of the bigger picture
The logic is certainly obvious to see. Rest the side’s star duo and potentially see them lose ground on Pep Guardiola’s City. But in thinking so short-term, the chances of injury no doubt will exponentially increase in the future. Both Mane and Salah played a combined total of 102 games last season and are in dire need of a proper rest.
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Throwing the duo back into the first-team fold without the time to fully recover and recharge their batteries will not only potentially affect their physical condition, but also see them suffer a mental block. As much as people love to batter professional footballers for the money they earn, they remain human beings and are in just as need for some time away like the rest of us.
Doing what Murphy says and rushing them back, and then seeing them suffer an avoidable injury will only hurt Liverpool in the long-term. Whilst Liverpool’s opening ten games of the Premier League are littered with fixtures against some of the big-six, Klopp must simply think of the bigger picture and avoided the glaring temptation to get his talismanic duo back into the frame.