Jurgen Klopp has dismissed any suggestion that Sadio Mane's recent form is a reaction to Liverpool signing Luis Diaz in January.
The Reds brought in Diaz in a £49m deal mid-season to bolster their attacking ranks. The Colombian has predominantly played on the left-wing since his arrival and, as a result, Mane has often found himself utilised centrally. The Senegalese is currently in a rich vein of form in front of goal with his match-winning brace against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday taking his tally to four from his last four games and eight from 15 appearances since winning the Africa Cup of Nations.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Liverpool 's Premier League clash with Manchester United at Anfield on Tuesday, Klopp suggested that Mane, like Mohamed Salah, had perhaps been struggling with the physical demands placed on him as a result of his mid-season international exploits. But having shone in recent weeks, the German praised how the forward is impressing in his new role down the middle.
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"I've known Sadio nearly six years. As far as I know him, he never needed any kind of competition to try and be the best version of himself," Reds boss Klopp said. "For a long time he pretty much played all the games when he was fit and performed to an incredibly high level consistently.
"Bringing in Luis, I'm not sure that it affected that part of his game. I don't know, but it was not the reason for bringing in Luis. Playing the centre obviously suits Sadio very well as well. He played for us and scored some incredible goals and some important goals from the left-wing, but he can play the centre as well. And we saw that again.
"Sadio as well had some physical struggles since he came back. The boy didn't feel it but we could see it. He cannot use his immense physicality just like this week in, week out, every three days. That was the problem.
"But I really felt before the game against City, 'okay that looks like Sadio physically'. And that's why he could play the game he played. Very important, he was super difficult to defend and very helpful and incredibly important in our defending. His first goal, you can only score if you try to get there and he did that. You only do this run if you feel fresh enough to do it, it all works together.
"No, I don't think that Luis is the reason Sadio scored four goals. But he is a little as well because he can keep a last line pretty busy and that opens up gaps for other players."
It's not just in attack where competition for places is rife in the injury-free Liverpool ranks, with Klopp continuing to have to leave four players out of his 20-man matchday squad each week. When defeating City on Saturday, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Takumi Minamino, Divock Origi and Harvey Elliott were the men to miss out.
And as the Reds continue to challenge for an unprecedented quadruple, Klopp admits he hopes he keeps having to make such tough decisions when explaining the important role such players continue to play for his side even when not called upon on the pitch.
"Our situation is clear. There were some players not in the squad for the weekend, and will not be in the squad for tomorrow, who are in a really good shape," Klopp said. "Really, really, really good. Nobody is easy to leave out. If we achieve anything this year, it's because of how all the boys deal with the situation and that means as well the boys who were not in the squad from time to time.
"They keep the training quality to an extremely high level so credit to them, it's absolutely outstanding. So we are now making decisions. I have to do something, I don't run on the pitch obviously. I don't score goals, I don't defend. So I have to do something and decision-making is one of the things I have to do.
"That's all about trying to figure out how it is. What is best possible formation and we have to think about intensity in the past, who played how often.
"We didn't have that situation too often. Usually in this part of the season we are already on three wheels and try to somehow get through. Hopefully we have to make these decisions until the end of the season."
