The Senegalese striker had a tough season in 2020/21, but that's only because the standards he set were so high
The tough 2020/21 season is over and we can start assessing who has made a huge contribution to Liverpool over the past eight months.
No one needs to explain salah as the Reds' top scorer, with the Egyptian breaking the record of 30 goals for the second time since joining the club.
When it comes to scoring goals for teammates, Trent Alexander Arnold and Roberto Firmino finished the season with nine assists.
But what about Sadio Manet? Few Liverpool fans will argue that he has been at his best this season and when he admitted he was below par this season, the player himself showed an honesty rarely seen by professionals.
"If you ask me what's wrong, I'll have a hard time giving you an answer," he said in an interview earlier this month.
"Personally, I don't know. I've always tried to be optimistic, whether things go well or badly. I've been questioning myself. ”
For Mane, however, things are far less bleak than many thought, especially in the past few months.
From November to December, he started six times without goals or assists, but for the longest period since then he has not scored directly, only extending his starters for 3 games.
In order to qualify for the Champions League, Liverpool must put in the highest team effort in the last 10 league games of the season, and Mane has done more than most to ensure they achieve their goals.
During that time, with the Reds finishing third, the Senegalese striker scored four goals and assisted four more, with no one else in Jurgen Klopp's squad scoring that many goals.
His 16-minute draw against Aston Villa and Manchester United was the only one in Mane's last 10 games that had started without an assist or goal.
If we add the "home" game against RB Leipzig, then Liverpool's No. 10 ended the 2020/21 season with nine goals in his last 11 games.
It's a good performance by anyone's standards, especially at the end of the season, when goals and assists feel like they're more important.
So why do so many people – including the players themselves – feel he's underperforming in 2020/21?
A big part of the problem lies in the term "underperformance". Most players will be happy to end a season with 16 goals and eight assists, but somehow it feels like a huge drop by Mane's usual standards.
But this is not the case. In his first four years in Merseyside, Mane averaged 27.3 goals per season, with his highest record in 2019/20 being 32.
Ending the game with 24 goals was obviously not good, but his record didn't fall off a cliff either. Over the past four years, the incredible, unstoppable form of Liverpool's top three has completely rewritten realistic expectations of an attacking player.
If we look at the 13-year period between the beginning of the Rafa Benitez era and the arrival of Salah, only 10 Liverpool players contributed at least 24 goals directly in one season.
Steven Gerrard did this four times, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez each recorded two such seasons, while Dirk Kuyt and Daniel Sturridge each recorded one.
What was once noteworthy now looks normal, and even Mane's performance seems less appealing.
But if that's the price of being one of the best strikers in world football, and having the impeccable standards required by such a position, there will certainly be worse criticism.
With his form in the final weeks of 2020/21, Mane helped Liverpool reach the top four.
If it's a bad season for the former Southamptonian, the Premier League had better beware as he seems to be moving towards his best form.