Ex-Liverpool Star Claims Salah & Mane Were 'Horrendous' in 4-1 Win Over Cardiff

Liverpool's attacking duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were 'horrendous' despite their pivotal roles in Liverpool's 4-1 win over Cardiff, according to

Liverpool's attacking duo Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were 'horrendous' despite their pivotal roles in Liverpool's 4-1 win over Cardiff, according to ex-Liverpool player and pundit Don Hutchinson.

Salah scored one and assisted two whilst Mane scored two goals of his own in Liverpool's 4-1 win over Cardiff to continue their unbeaten start to this Premier League campaign. Liverpool's front three consisting of Salah, Mane and Roberto Firmino have come under questioning this season for underperforming compared to their performances last-term, when they contributed 91 goals overall.

Our front three for #LIVCAR. 🙌

Salah x Firmino x Mane pic.twitter.com/gU1cO3ywgh

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 27, 2018

Hutchinson, who spent four years at Liverpool between 1990-94, told beIN SPORTS: "If no-one’s seen this game, this was my commentary game at the weekend, Salah scored one and got two assists and Sadio Mane scored two. The two of them were horrendous. They had such a bad game it was incredible.

"Salah wasn’t going to miss the first one, Cardiff’s defending wasn’t great. It took them a long time Liverpool. You’re thinking at 1-0, ‘They definitely need a second.'

"With Mane, he was having a five-minute spell where he was having an absolute stinker then it fell to him on his left foot and you can see the way he doesn’t celebrate, he just wanted to smash that as hard as he can."

Jan Kruger/GettyImages

Xherdan Shaqiri scored Liverpool's other goal. Hutchinson did give credit to Salah for his assist, saying: "This (Shaqiri’s goal) is where Salah was brilliant, that ball with the outside of the left foot, he played it to Shaqiri’s back foot."

Hutchinson insists the Liverpool duo only put on a good performance in the latter stages of the game; “Salah and Mane went through the gears in the last 15 minutes. The fourth goal is brilliant, Mane carries on his run and Salah in the first hour wouldn’t have picked this pass. It was perfection.

Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages

“Jurgen Klopp had to sweat for those three points, honestly," Hutchinson said, disagreeing with the Liverpool boss who was impressed by a 'very good performance' from Mane despite playing with a hand injury.

“If you paint the picture, it was 1-0 hard graft, then it was 2-0 easy, then it was 2-1 hard graft again and back through the gears,” according to Hutchinson.

Liverpool face against Arsenal next, who are in good form and are unbeaten in their last 12 games, winning 11 of them.