if you look at the way liverpool utilise mane on the left side of their attack, mane gets alot of freedom to come inside because robertson always plays upfield and drags the defender or midfielder towards him normally creating a bit of space for mane to pick up the pass and then run at the defence. He is also supported by a deep lying striker who likes to put through balls to either salah or mane in tight spaces and play quick one two's.
we've seen over the past few weeks that richarlison has struggled at times to take on his player once he has the ball on the left wing. That's either because he doesnt have the outlet of digne yet because we are playing on the counter or he gets tackled very easily, or he tries too much and falls over the ball.
against spurs we saw a very energetic tom davies getting up field to help support the attackers.
if you look at richarlisons first goal against spurs, digne picks it up on the left and passes it to DCL who is playing where richarlison should be. Richarlison has drifted into a central striker position. DCL plays a quick pass to richarlison and richarlison creates the space to shoot and scores.
Now if you watch his goal v Leicester in our 2-0 win, Richarlison picks up the ball on the left wing, he takes on Justin, creates the space and shoots and scores. Yes the keeper should have done better but he still scored.
This shows Richarlison can do both jobs. The question is where is he the most effective?
Without doubt its playing in a more central role. In this role he can play off the defender and run behind to cause havoc. He struggles to get in behind defences when he is on the wing, as he normally comes deep and has to wait for digne or play the simple pass because if he tries to take on the defender he either gets tackled or falls over the ball trying to do something creative.