Topic: Mohamed Salah - Best in the World *

[kingmonkey007]

Almost as if he’s been told he’s not getting a new contract and the toys are being chucked out the pram. He looks half arsed, gets bullied and skied every shot he takes.

The disrespect and the state of bullshit accusations against one of the most professional players and not to mention someone who will… no actually someone who is one of our greatest ever players is embarrassing, our fans can be the biggest c*nts in football. Hope you’ll be saying all this same shite when he does leave and not pretending to be a fan with praise for him.

[kasperoff]

Funny post amongst many others in this thread.

Still laughing?

[kop306]

i thought it was interesting that everton second goal game from mo giving the ball away that led to the shot and the corner

dont get me wrong klopp is one of the greatest liverpool managers

but sadly his loyalty to certain players has been a weakness

[Knight]

Certainly true of this calendar year but he was very good before Christmas. That said, that's twice in the last 3 seasons that he's basically fallen off a cliff form-wise half way through a season when we've needed him most. Can't really accept that from your so-called star player / biggest earner / one of your leaders. Whether it's physical or something else is largely irrelevant.

If the new man is Slot, who by all accounts demands extreme, aggressive pressing all over the park, then I don't see how Salah fits. Sure, you could compromise to get him in there, but why would you compromise a) for this version of Salah, or b) when he's off in a year anyway. It'd just be a cloud over the new manager that he probably doesn't need.

I do think Edwards will be looking to work with him to explore a move away, and it seems clear now that from a fan perspective, that's not going to go down as the shitstorm it would have been last summer.

This.

[Macc77]

You what? Without Salah's goal's we wouldn't be in the top four right now. 

I'm not joining in with the kneejerking this evening when we're all raw and pissed off, but I've read this comment a few times, and it's a flawed premise. He's scored the goals he's scored, but you can't just subtract them and then say that's where we would be as if nobody else would have been playing instead. We scored the best part of 50 goals in 15 games or so in all comps between New Years Day and him coming back into the side properly in mid March for example.

[rushyman]

In before the lock

Hi mum

[jillcwhomever]

i thought it was interesting that everton second goal game from mo giving the ball away that led to the shot and the corner

dont get me wrong klopp is one of the greatest liverpool managers

but sadly his loyalty to certain players has been a weakness

You are such a a troll.

[Draex]

He had 90 year old eats bird shit for his breakfast Ashley marking him second half and didn’t once try and take him on.. when you’re the star earning the big bucks you’ve got to be better.

[jillcwhomever]

I'm not joining in with the kneejerking this evening when we're all raw and pissed off, but I've read this comment a few times, and it's a flawed premise. He's scored the goals he's scored, but you can't just subtract them and then say that's where we would be as if nobody else would have been playing instead. We scored the best part of 50 goals in 15 games or so in all comps between New Years Day and him coming back into the side properly in mid March for example.

He will finish the season as top scorer and. creator once again. Perhaps one day they will question the other forwards who have not risen to the challenge, instead of laying it at Salah's door. If we do get shot others are going to have to do more.

[PaleBlueDot]

He will finish the season as top scorer and. creator once again. Perhaps one day they will question the other forwards who have not risen to the challenge, instead of laying it at Salah's door. If we do get shot others are going to have to do more.

That's the thing. I think it will be laid at all their doors. The jury is out on the entire attack this summer. There isn't one attacker I look at and think 'he's nailed on to be here next season'.

The season isn't on Mo's poor 2024. But he still had a poor 2024 and we're fine to ask questions - respectfully.

[rawcusk8]

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.

Not been good recently, how many have? No way should we turn on this legend.. Fuck that.. It’s amazing how football does this. Will finish as top goalscorer and possibly creator, if you talk about fixing the attack you don’t start here.

[William Regal]

Hopefully he is afforded the respect that so many members of our fanbase didnt give Mane when he left.

If you take his penalties away that keep the pressure off him, his finishing has been really poor since the African Nations, the biggest drop off all for me seems his ability to be able to press the ball effectively when out of possession.

Big decisions for a new manager but whatever happens he deserves huge amounts of our respect, hes an all time great at our club

[Romford_Red]

He will finish the season as top scorer and. creator once again. Perhaps one day they will question the other forwards who have not risen to the challenge, instead of laying it at Salah's door. If we do get shot others are going to have to do more.

I'm completely with you in that Salah has been great (this season) and deserves all of the respect. This thread is not nice at the moment.

However I do agree that him leaving might be what we need.
While his goals have continued in the last 2-3 years (and I am not underplaying the importance of goals) the other attributes of his game that terrorised defenders, have been waning for some time.

Currently his form is awful. We looked great in the last game when he (and others) was not on the pitch and then when he came on (again with others) we suddenly looked disjointed and vulnerable. I'm happy to say he's probably just form because he's earned that patience from me. The problem though is that while he probably needed benching for a few games, it is pretty impossible to do with him viewed as the star man.

I think there comes a time when the inability to drop someone becomes such a negative, you sort of have to lose them entirely. Sort of what happened with Gerrard towards the end.

Clearly there's a few more issues than just Mo. Just personally I'd like to know why we never press a quick attack any more and just wait for teams to reorganise into a low block that we struggle to penetrate, but that's for another day and another thread.

[Haggis36]

He will finish the season as top scorer and. creator once again. Perhaps one day they will question the other forwards who have not risen to the challenge, instead of laying it at Salah's door. If we do get shot others are going to have to do more.

I know everyone's decided Nunez is shit, but if you take out Salah's pens they've basically had exactly the same season in terms of output - 17 goals and 13 assists each. In the league specifically Salah has one more goal and one more assist, having played a good few minutes more.

It's one of the reasons I don't really understand why everyone has decided it's impossible to replace Salah (but that we should bin off Nunez if we can get half our money back). Peak Salah? Sure, impossible. This version? Not so sure. The all round play has deteriorated massively, and the #numbers aren't really making up for that anymore.

[Romford_Red]

That's the thing. I think it will be laid at all their doors. The jury is out on the entire attack this summer. There isn't one attacker I look at and think 'he's nailed on to be here next season'.

Not to turn this into a Diaz thread, but I think Diaz is just fine. He normally looks on it and seasons coming back from a major injury often look like this. Not to mention what happened with his family.

[Andar]

You what? Without Salah's goal's we wouldn't be in the top four right now. 

Record without Salah: 13W 1D 1L
With Salah: 2W 3D 4L

[Macc77]

He will finish the season as top scorer and. creator once again. Perhaps one day they will question the other forwards who have not risen to the challenge, instead of laying it at Salah's door. If we do get shot others are going to have to do more.

I'm not having a go at Salah, I'm questioning the theory that someone else or a collection of players wouldn't have got the same numbers, because when he was out we did exactly that for the 10 weeks or so.  He is the focal point of our attack, he gets alot of chances and alot of opportunities to pile up good numbers. He's earned that right over years. I'm old enough to remember us thinking no player would ever re-create Rush's numbers, but we didn't ask anyone to do so, we stopped relying on one player to get us goals and we shared the load and were really successful. Without Salah for those 10 weeks we did the same (from a smaller sample size of course), we didn't have that focal point and others stepped up. I'd argue that collectively we dropped off once he came back (we lost Jota as well). I don't know why that happened, maybe some assumed/hoped the main man being back eased the expectation on them to do it. That's on them as well of course, we've let the season drift away as a team.

[slaphead]

In before the lock

Hi mum

 
I needed a good laugh tonight

[Gili Gulu]

I'm completely with you in that Salah has been great (this season)

He was great until Afcon, but he's not been the same since, in fact he's been quite often been poor in his general play, and his finishing has fallen off a cliff.

[jillcwhomever]

I know everyone's decided Nunez is shit, but if you take out Salah's pens they've basically had exactly the same season in terms of output - 17 goals and 13 assists each. In the league specifically Salah has one more goal and one more assist, having played a good few minutes more.

It's one of the reasons I don't really understand why everyone has decided it's impossible to replace Salah (but that we should bin off Nunez if we can get half our money back). Peak Salah? Sure, impossible. This version? Not so sure. The all round play has deteriorated massively, and the #numbers aren't really making up for that anymore.

I know you want rid of Salah you say it every game, while it's true he's not been great people tend to forget he's had an injury as well. I do think people hide in his shadow if we get rid of him, as so many want; others will have to take responsibility.

[Kashinoda]

Record without Salah: 13W 1D 1L
With Salah: 2W 3D 4L

Salah post double injury**

With Salah in the team we were top of the league by 3 points after 20 games before he left for Afcon.

[faisfais]

In hindsight, maybe we should have let him go and play for Egypt against Croatia & New Zealand during the last international break..

[collytum]

Not the same player anymore but what a legend he has been. Probably time to move on now but has served us so well. Can't really criticise him but the same can't be said for certain others

[thejbs]

I'd rather if Juventus came in with a 100m euro bid obviously. answer me this if Saudi offer 100m and Juve offered 50m what would you do?

I’d like to avoid both. Juventus are completely in bed with KSA.

[Haggis36]

I know you want rid of Salah you say it every game, while it's true he's not been great people tend to forget he's had an injury as well. I do think people hide in his shadow if we get rid of him, as so many want; others will have to take responsibility.

I actually haven't. I've said repeatedly that my preference is for him to renew for another year to see how he gets on, but I've acknowledged that there's a very real conversation to be had around the cost/benefit of that, his current level, and the level he's likely to be in the future given his age. Let's not just make stuff up.

You talk about others needing to take responsibility, but I'm not seeing any of that from Salah right now (or any of the senior players to be honest, in the interest of not singling Mo out). Our season has completely unravelled in the space of a month, and most of the senior lads appear to be, at best, going through the motions.

It's fair enough to disagree with the idea of selling Salah, fine, I just don't get this "well be careful what you wish for!!" mentality around it - Salah is going to leave LFC. Whether it's this season or next season, LFC is going to have to try and continue to exist and compete once he's gone. Shoving heads in the sand and pretending he's not about to turn 32 and enter the last year of his contract whilst shouting "yeah but still our top-scorer!!" isn't going to change that. The people who don't want us to sell him do still realise we'll need to replace him next summer right?

[Spezialo]

The disrespect and the state of bullshit accusations against one of the most professional players and not to mention someone who will… no actually someone who is one of our greatest ever players is embarrassing, our fans can be the biggest c*nts in football. Hope you’ll be saying all this same shite when he does leave and not pretending to be a fan with praise for him.

But he does look half arsed, skies loads of shots and does get bullied.

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

I had hoped any decline in his pace would be offset by his brain and ability to come a bit deeper and supply people instead - we have seen it plenty of times this season to know he has it in him. But a) he is bang out of form and b) those around him are too. You could argue c) not enough runners around him but that’s a summer problem.

Some of his performances have been really, really woeful but I want to believe that is just form and confidence, like so many around him. When he dipped before he had Mane to pick up the pieces or Firmino or Jota. He has no-one atm so it reflects even more terribly on him.

Everyone selling him off the highest bidder… I’d be careful what you wish for. Get better lads around him - we will need experience and quality in transition and I think he still has that somewhere.

[Sharado]

The thing is, and we've already seen it with Henderson, mane, fabinho and more recently, once "it" starts to go, it doesn't come back. Nows the time.

[DiggerJohn]

Love Mo an absolute legend for us, but it's time to think about the future. Mane and Firmino are gone, think it's time to learn to live without Mo too. The future is not looking great. Don't think Jota Diaz and Nunez are the same level unfortunately

[duvva 💅]

I had hoped any decline in his pace would be offset by his brain and ability to come a bit deeper and supply people instead - we have seen it plenty of times this season to know he has it in him. But a) he is bang out of form and b) those around him are too. You could argue c) not enough runners around him but that’s a summer problem.

Some of his performances have been really, really woeful but I want to believe that is just form and confidence, like so many around him. When he dipped before he had Mane to pick up the pieces or Firmino or Jota. He has no-one atm so it reflects even more terribly on him.

Everyone selling him off the highest bidder… I’d be careful what you wish for. Get better lads around him - we will need experience and quality in transition and I think he still has that somewhere.

Feels like we’ve been here before, not so much with Mo, but last season it was Gomez and Matip. Both came back this season to have excellent seasons. It’s hard to judge anyone at the moment as almost everyone is off the boil.
Mo’s older so everyone is looking closely trying to ensure we get rid at the right time. I don’t think any of us will be able to tell. But we have to rely on those who’s job it is to do that. But he’s one of our greatest ever and may well have more in the tank. We’ll have to wait and see what the summer brings but I’d doubt this is his level now. Just badly out of form in a team that is as well.

[G Richards]

Am I the only one who thinks he was a
10/10 balon dor superstar until he lost afcon and world cup to Senegal in a week and hasn't looked the same since.

Ooooh 12 non pen goals in the Prem. Big hoop so does Chris Wood let's get him.

Mo salah is now no longer good enough for lfc.

You’ve been talking about Mane putting him out. That was the 2022 final, Egypt v Senegal, and Salah has certainly shown some great stuff since 2022 for us. In 2024 Senegal and Egypt didn't play each other, and Salah limped off with a hamstring injury against Ghana.

The injury was worse than first thought, then he tweaked it again, and he hasn’t got back to the level he was showing in the first half of the season for us, before AFCON. It has all coincided now with a loss of form, and the timing is lousy as we were trying to win a Premier League title. Salah has been so relentlessly good over the years that I can’t even begrudge him a loss of form.

The legitimate question that is coming to the fore is about his age and drop in level.

To my mind Salah is clearly past peak. The pace isn’t there and he rarely runs past defenders. The strength isn’t there either, and he often gets muscled off the ball and loses his duels. There have been signs that he is reinventing himself and developing his game, dropping a bit deeper, looking for a pass, and then still trying to finish, but overall, we are now in a phase of diminishing returns.

I’d have no qualms about selling him this summer so the new manager can reinvest the fee and shape his team.

With all that said, it should not be beyond fans to show some respect to one of our greats. I may have it wrong, but reading the last couple of pages you almost sound like you are reveling in his decline and eager to kick him to touch.

I do think it is time for a move, and don’t disagree there, but Mo Salah has nothing but respect from me for the man he is and his considerable achievements in a Liverpool shirt. Bringing Chris Wood into it seems unnecessarily disrespectful.

[decosabute]

I had hoped any decline in his pace would be offset by his brain and ability to come a bit deeper and supply people instead - we have seen it plenty of times this season to know he has it in him. But a) he is bang out of form and b) those around him are too. You could argue c) not enough runners around him but that’s a summer problem.

Some of his performances have been really, really woeful but I want to believe that is just form and confidence, like so many around him. When he dipped before he had Mane to pick up the pieces or Firmino or Jota. He has no-one atm so it reflects even more terribly on him.

Everyone selling him off the highest bidder… I’d be careful what you wish for. Get better lads around him - we will need experience and quality in transition and I think he still has that somewhere.

People are overstating the pace thing. Salah hasn't been rapid for a couple of years at least. He had found a way to compensate for that and still be a really good attacker.

What we're seeing since his return from injury is something else entirely. He seems completely shorn of all confidence, is getting physically bullied in most games, honestly doesn't have any spark whatsoever. Our one decent performance in the past six weeks came when he was benched.

I don't think I've ever seen such a drop off, especially for such an extended period and at such an important time. Pace is only a small factor.

[Dave D]

It's an interesting one. There are people out there who watch him every week and genuinely want him sold, but then you go through their posts and they've held that view for years, it's baffling.

As we move towards the 100% data driven football model, it makes absolutely no sense to sell the clubs top scorer and one of the most productive players and to keep the absolute dross that has been playing beside him. There's absolutely no guarantee that any money raised would be spent on new players instead of "infrastructure projects".

I would absolutely keep him for as long as possible. Not only for his contribution to the team, but also to piss off the british far-right who have had it in for him since he arrived and pile on him (and any player who isn't proper brexit) anytime he so much as miskicks a ball.

[Zlen]

  Eh? 
You’d keep a player that is 32, and increasingly looking like a gaping hole in both attack and defence - to spite right wingers? Even if he rekindles his form and starts playing like he gives a minor fuck - that is a very thin reason to burn through 350k a week.

[Knight]

I know you want rid of Salah you say it every game, while it's true he's not been great people tend to forget he's had an injury as well. I do think people hide in his shadow if we get rid of him, as so many want; others will have to take responsibility.

We were basically fine when he was out. Jota was mostly fit though. The issue with replacing Salah is Jota is so injury prone that you can’t rely on him. And I don’t think Gapko and Diaz will score enough goals

[Barryg21]

It's an interesting one. There are people out there who watch him every week and genuinely want him sold, but then you go through their posts and they've held that view for years, it's baffling.

As we move towards the 100% data driven football model, it makes absolutely no sense to sell the clubs top scorer and one of the most productive players and to keep the absolute dross that has been playing beside him. There's absolutely no guarantee that any money raised would be spent on new players instead of "infrastructure projects".

I would absolutely keep him for as long as possible. Not only for his contribution to the team, but also to piss off the british far-right who have had it in for him since he arrived and pile on him (and any player who isn't proper brexit) anytime he so much as miskicks a ball.

Every time you see an advert for a pension or an investment fund it has big disclaimers saying past performance isnt representative of the future.....
If you are 100% data driven, you dont just assume the numbers never change. If you didn't expect them better you wouldnt sign young prospects (who have mediocre current numbers). At same time If they never got worse, you would have Kaka and Zidane still running midfields.....
Numbers drop off - the secret is to sell before they do too obviously so its someone else's issue

[Draex]

The Premiership is ruthless against age, even shit teams will come and fight hard and with energy so there are never easy rest games… Everton are a grock team fighting for relegation so you need to match their physicality first, then play your better football once they tire. You can’t do that with players past it physically, Mo won none of his duels, he never was like that, he was always listed as one of the hardest forwards to play against due to exactly that.

[Knight]

People are overstating the pace thing. Salah hasn't been rapid for a couple of years at least. He had found a way to compensate for that and still be a really good attacker.

What we're seeing since his return from injury is something else entirely. He seems completely shorn of all confidence, is getting physically bullied in most games, honestly doesn't have any spark whatsoever. Our one decent performance in the past six weeks came when he was benched.

I don't think I've ever seen such a drop off, especially for such an extended period and at such an important time. Pace is only a small factor.

Pace is huge. A wide forward without athleticism in our setup is awful for our system. Perhaps Salah has been on a downward curve athletically for a couple of years and it’s now reached a point where he can’t compensate in other ways. Perhaps his decline in pace has been matched with a decline in balance, strength, stamina etc and he can’t compensate for it.

[Barryg21]

I think the lob miss against Atlanta was pace affected as well

If he was his old electric self, he has more gap between defender, so can take his time
They always say best layers have more time than others

When you are under pressure and can feel a defender closing in, you snatch more
(we saw that last night as well)

[jepovic]

Pace is huge. A wide forward without athleticism in our setup is awful for our system. Perhaps Salah has been on a downward curve athletically for a couple of years and it’s now reached a point where he can’t compensate in other ways. Perhaps his decline in pace has been matched with a decline in balance, strength, stamina etc and he can’t compensate for it.

Maybe the loss of pace has gotten to him mentally? He seems frustrated.
It's easy to say that he should adapt his game, but we have to remember that he has been a quick guy his entire life and that is part of his identity.