Michael Owen has spoken of his ‘devious’ theory that Sadio Mane is seeking to limit Mohamed Salah ’s opportunities to score.
It comes after Liverpool suffered their fifth successive Premier League defeat on Thursday as Chelsea triumphed at Anfield.
The previously electric front three of Salah, Mane and Roberto Firmino have not looked their usual selves in recent weeks, and have now gone three games without scoring.
That poor form continued against Thomas Tuchel’s Blues, with neither Salah, Mane or Firmino having a shot on target.
Mane did arguably have a chance to create an opportunity for teammate Salah within the opening 10 minutes of Thursday’s game.
He was clipped by Andreas Christensen inside the box, but instead of going down and shouting for a penalty, Mane stayed on his feet and made an unsuccessful attempt to shoot.
After the game, Owen revealed his theory about why Mane decided to not claim for a penalty.
“I couldn’t believe he didn’t go down there and look, I’m not advocating he does,” Owen told Optus Sport.
“It was a great touch and he possibly thought he might get a chance at the end of it ... but he did something similar a week ago (against Sheffield United).
“I just wonder, and it might be a little bit of devious thoughts creeping into my head, Mo Salah is the penalty taker in this team, and if he (Mane) thinks he’s getting a chance to score he thinks ‘well I’m going to score, if I don’t stay on my feet, Mo Salah’s going to get another penalty’.”
Owen also believes the two players’ competitiveness is one of the key reasons why Liverpool’s attacking output has regressed.
“These players have been going for the golden boot for the past couple of seasons,” Owen said.
“It might be a wild sort of theory, but the competitive nature of him and Mo Salah...we’ve seen them not passing to each other when one of them is in a much better position to the other.
“We’re seeing a little bit of selfishness, we’re seeing a little bit of disgruntled behaviour - Mo Salah shaking his head (when he was subbed off).
“I just think a couple of times there, I’ve seen Mane go down for those kind of opportunities...and (to not do it) two games on the spin? It just made me think a little bit.”
