Guinea’s Naby Keita was arguably the stand out performer in Liverpool’s opener as Mane and Mohammed Salah sealed a 4-0 win against London based West Ham Sunday.
The Reds lived up to the billing as title challengers with a routine 4-0 win over a revamped Wes Ham side in their opening Premier League fixture.
A double from Saido Mane, along with goals from Mohammed Salah and Daniel Struridge sealed a comfortable win for the Reds in their opening game in the 2017/18 season.
New Liverpool signing Alison Becker and Naby Keita made their competitive debuts but it was the £52.7 million midfielder that won the hearts of Liverpool fans.
Keita showed he brings to the side in the 17th minute with a neat pass to the path of Andrew Robertson who was left with a simple task of finding Salah who finished it off with a tap-in.
In the first 3o minutes, he had won possession of the ball on eight occasions more than any other Liverpool player. His well-timed tackle against West Ham’s Michael Antonio early in the second half drew an applause and loud roars from Liverpool fans who were already singing his name.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carrager spoke what was clearly on everyone’s mind when asked to comment Keita’s debut performance.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“He’s a standout player you can see that straight away. He has been everywhere.”[/perfectpullquote]
He told Sky Sports after the match.
“He’s only going to get better, so to come into a new team, a new style of play and so well, you can only imagine how good he’s going to be in a few months with more games and more time with the boys.”
He was switched to the left wing after the introduction of Henderson but still didn’t look out of place proving his versatility.
The 23-year-old proved he brings in something different to Jurgen Klopp’s side. His aggressive play, creativity, tireless engine, ability to win back the ball and versatility will give the Reds an edge in the coming season.
He will provide a much needed cover for the back four while giving the Reds an additional threat while moving forward.
