Liverpool may now find themselves with another Sadio Mane situation on their hands - opinion

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Liverpool have never managed to fully replace Sadio Mane ever since he departed in 2022.The Reds are going through a bit of a rough patch right now, with three losses on the bounce leaving many fans worried about the direction in which their title defence is going in.There are many reasons for this, which is certainly not something Arne Slot will want to hear, with the Dutchman likely not having much of a rest over this international break.Join our newsletter for news & smart analysis. One big problem is in attack, with the Reds not as free-flowing in this area as they have been in previous seasons.Again, there are many different causes of this, but there is one obvious problem that could be repeating itself, one that has not been seen since Mane first departed.Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty ImagesLiverpool do not have a left-winger who starts the pressThe Reds always made themselves a horrible team to play against due to the fact that they simply would not leave their opposition alone.Their high press would hassle their opponents, with this all starting in attack, and Mane used to be the player who kick-started this.When the Senegalese star first left, though, Liverpool were not able to do this as effectively as before, especially as, at the time, Luis Diaz was still being shown the ropes.Troy Deeney echoed a similar point too, with the former Watford striker believing that Diaz’s departure might be affecting the Reds more than many would have thought.“He set the press (Diaz), and you had that before with Sadio, do you remember?

When he left it took you a little while,” Deeney said on The Football Exchange.What this does show is that the Reds need to get back to pressing teams higher up the pitch as soon as possible, which is what they had been doing to great effect for so many years.READ MORE: Forget Dayot Upamecano, Liverpool are eyeing a move for another ‘outstanding’ centre-backOf course they are not directly linked, but during this transition period between Mane and Diaz, Liverpool only managed a fifth place finish, something they simply cannot afford to let happen again this season.Cody Gakpo needs to step up for LiverpoolOne person who has more power than most in this situation and can help solve this problem is Cody Gakpo.Since Diaz left, the Dutchman has been tasked with being the regular left-winger, although this lack of pressing might be partly his fault.However, for the Netherlands, he seems to be one of their, if not the, most important players, something that confuses Liverpool fans.So, what he needs to do now is take his international form and produce it at club level, with a good work-rate and pressing from the front certainly a good place to start.