“Mane messes everything up” – German columnist feels ex-Liverpool forward Sadio Mane fits into Bayern Munich team like ‘tofu in white sausage’ 

Former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has been heavily criticized for his recent performances at new outfit Bayern Munich by Sport1 columnist Alex Steudel. The German writer believes the Senegalese attacker is causing an imbalance in Julian Nagelsmann's team amid their poor start to the 2022-23 Bundesliga campaign.

Bayern Munich are sixth in the table and have won only four of their nine league encounters this season in one of their worst starts to the campaign in quite some time. The German outfit will need to secure a victory in their encounter against SC Freiburg on Sunday (October 16) if they want to get back in the title race.

Steudel wrote in his column for Sport1 (via talkSPORT):

“The man fits into the Bayern team like tofu in white sausage. Mane messes everything up. Sometimes, he plays on the left and, of all people, pushes Leroy Sane to the right. Sometimes, he plays in the centre of the attack, where he is hopelessly overwhelmed."

"Mane is the field walker who never arrives. And it’s been like this all the time, but nobody says it out loud: Mane for Lewandowski – who actually came up with this nonsense? He’s only playing because Serge Gnabry’s in trouble and Kingsley Coman was first suspended and then injured – and sometimes when Sane kindly swerved to the right."

He added:

“With Mane, the Bayern attack is in constant imbalance. Everyone can see it. The result: Worst start to the season since 2010. Mane is not solely responsible, but he bears a fair share of the blame.”

Despite being the subject of criticism in recent times, Mane has managed to score four goals in nine Bundesliga appearances for Bayern Munich. The former Liverpool star has recorded a decent eight goals and an assist in 15 appearances across all competitions for the German outfit this term.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp shares his thoughts on Sadio Mane's form this season

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is confident that Mane will continue to improve and push his limits in Germany this season. He told Sky Sports (via the aforementioned talkSPORT report):

“Sadio will continuously up his performance limit. He always does. Not every week, nobody does that. But in extremely high frequency. Sadio is an outstanding player. He is absolutely world-class.”

Klopp was then asked whether he was missing the Senegalese attacker at Liverpool. He replied:

“He’s a good guy and a top player. But missing sounds like I still want him here. I think it’s totally okay that Sadio just wanted to do something different.”