Topic: Mohamed Salah - Best in the World *

[Fitzy.]

Went with his left foot for some reason, made it so much more difficult for himself.

Great player, terribly one-footed.

He finished amazingly with his right foot last season against City at Anfield. He's got 16 goals in the PL with his right foot, which isn't terrible. I think he's obviously predominantly left-footed but I don't think he's 'terribly one-footed' compared to some footballers.

[SMASHerano]

What are the odds of the team scoring 9 goals and he doesn't bag either a goal or an assist? Saving them for Newcastle 

[farawayred]

What are the odds of the team scoring 9 goals and he doesn't bag either a goal or an assist? Saving them for Newcastle 

Half for the Barcodes, half for the Blueshite.

[MonsLibpool]

Should have passed to Diaz there. What was he thinking?

[y2w902]

Where is the composure on the rebound ffs just lashing at it.

[tubby]

Should have passed to Diaz there. What was he thinking?

Was probably something along the lines of 'I've been stuck out on that wing for 90 minutes, finally I'm on the ball in the box'.

[disgraced cake]

Looked poor in front of goal, just not happening for him so far this season. Hopefully we can build some cohesion with Nunez and Jota back to help out

[Coolie High]

Was probably something along the lines of 'I've been stuck out on that wing for 90 minutes, finally I'm on the ball in the box'.

And he’s created the most chances in the league by like a big distance, maybe it’s time they create for him?

[Studgotelli]

Not doing enough been going on since last season, looks like he has physically peaked too…

[Agent99]

Can anyone explain why he is so wide all the time this season?

[MonsLibpool]

Was probably something along the lines of 'I've been stuck out on that wing for 90 minutes, finally I'm on the ball in the box'.

Us getting win is more important. Very poor decision.

[Coolie High]

Us getting win is more important. Very poor decision.

No footballer can make the perfect decision every single time, and a shot on target wasn’t bad at all.

[MonsLibpool]

No footballer can make the perfect decision every single time, and a shot on target wasn’t bad at all.

Diaz was in a far better position and he'd have been clean through with a clear sight of goal. That was a terrible decision to shoot from there.

[JackWard33]

And he’s created the most chances in the league by like a big distance, maybe it’s time they create for him?

They can’t…  his starting position is miles from goal
He’s basically playing right attacking midfield for us - needs changing

[Coolie High]

They can’t…  his starting position is miles from goal
He’s basically playing right attacking midfield for us - needs changing

I agree.

[HeartAndSoul]

Said it in the half time thread but since the first half of last season, he hasn’t been playing like a £400k a week player. I don’t understand how he’s struggling to even take a man on nowadays.

[Coolie High]

https://twitter.com/michael_reid11/status/1565091721033261058

Creatively he’s gone up a level, the other players or to be honest the team balance  has been off which hasn’t allowed him to get as many goalscoring opportunities.

[ScubaSteve]

Said it in the half time thread but since the first half of last season, he hasn’t been playing like a £400k a week player. I don’t understand how he’s struggling to even take a man on nowadays.

I’m baffled by it all, he’s not been himself for a long time.

[jonnypb]

Said it in the half time thread but since the first half of last season, he hasn’t been playing like a £400k a week player. I don’t understand how he’s struggling to even take a man on nowadays.

He won’t be getting 400k a week at the rate he’s/we’re playing. Isn’t his salary heavily laden with performance related targets, goals, trophies etc……

[stevieG786]

He’s playing too wide, he came alive in the last 10 minutes when he got the ball to feet in a central position

Can’t remember the last time he beat his man though

[JackWard33]

He won’t be getting 400k a week at the rate he’s/we’re playing. Isn’t his salary heavily laden with performance related targets, goals, trophies etc……

Nope

[tubby]

He won’t be getting 400k a week at the rate he’s/we’re playing. Isn’t his salary heavily laden with performance related targets, goals, trophies etc……

Wait... is this why we're playing him on the touchline, so he can't get goals and we save a bit of cash?  Now it all makes sense.

[killer-heels]

This Trent inside and Salah chatting to the fans tactics need changing.

[Knight]

His passing is brilliant. Everything else is not great. Partly that's down to his teammates.

[dirkster]

He needs a rest. He really needs a rest. I fully expect a different Salah after the WC. I think he's physically and mentally exhausted

[Mister Flip Flop]

He needs a rest. He really needs a rest. I fully expect a different Salah after the WC. I think he's physically and mentally exhausted

It's only when you look back on last season you realise just how much football he played. I think at the AFCON he played a ridiculous amount of minutes within a short space of time and he's never looked the same since he came back. It's a real conundrum for Klopp. Keep playing him in the hope he finds form or let him have a couple of weeks off on the bench and hope that gives him time to recharge.

[JackWard33]

Not sure i get what him having a rest has to do with anything?
First of all he’s just had one … but more importantly he’s not playing badly… he’s creating more chances than almost anyone in tbe league… he’s just being used as a wide midfielder so he’s not a goal threat

[Ghost Town]

So I see Salah is the designated scapegoat this week. But perhaps we need to talk a bit about how he's deployed, almost like he's deliberately being kept away from goal as much as possible, before making free with the brickbats.

In unrelated news my mate who works at the Billy Hill reckons Kloppo put a bet on for Darwin or Lucho to be our top scorer this season... 

[Chakan]

Seems to only realize a game is on in the 80th minute

[Ghost Town]

It's only when you look back on last season you realise just how much football he played. I think at the AFCON he played a ridiculous amount of minutes within a short space of time and he's never looked the same since he came back. It's a real conundrum for Klopp. Keep playing him in the hope he finds form or let him have a couple of weeks off on the bench and hope that gives him time to recharge.

Surely the real conundrum is "keep playing him so that he's nowhere near the goal or allow him to get into goal-scoring positions?"

When he has done, he's scored or had decent shots on goal

He can't really bring the ball in from wide and score anymore because every opposition team has trained and set up specifically to stop that.

Alternatively he's showing up as a top chance creator for others so maybe others need to put it in a bit more often and we can celebrate his creativity; team game, remember?

[dirkster]

It's only when you look back on last season you realise just how much football he played. I think at the AFCON he played a ridiculous amount of minutes within a short space of time and he's never looked the same since he came back. It's a real conundrum for Klopp. Keep playing him in the hope he finds form or let him have a couple of weeks off on the bench and hope that gives him time to recharge.

It is a conundrum Indeed. A really don't know what the answer is. My gut instinct is to keep playing him and he'll get the rest during the WC. The other option is to give him a rest for few games, but who would we play instead. Carvalho, Jota?

[Ghost Town]

Seems to only realize a game is on in the 80th minute

Is that true? Or is it that in the last few minutes of the game he has licence to get into goal scoring positions more as we go for broke?

[Chakan]

Is that true? Or is it that in the last few minutes of the game he has licence to get into goal scoring positions more as we go for broke?

Maybe he just gets more creative in the last 80 I dunno, but most of the time he got the ball before the 80 he's tried to go down the wing and gets shut down. He had a much better second half (like most of the team) but his contribution in the first half was severely lacking.

I dunno he's probably tired, but he looks a shadow of the player last year.

[Samie]

Woke up in the last 3 minutes of the game. 

[Ghost Town]

Presumably he's following instructions?

We're clearly trying to implement something new. I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand it, but a number of players are doing things differently to what we are used to from them.

We might just have to take the short term pain until it clicks (or we give it up).

[killer-heels]

Presumably he's following instructions?

We're clearly trying to implement something new. I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand it, but a number of players are doing things differently to what we are used to from them.

We might just have to take the short term pain until it clicks (or we give it up).

Good job I am not a coach because i would have screamed, battered Ljinders and Krawietz for trying this system out, consoled Salah and promised him we will go back to how we used to play.

[Chakan]

Presumably he's following instructions?

We're clearly trying to implement something new. I'm not going to pretend that I fully understand it, but a number of players are doing things differently to what we are used to from them.

We might just have to take the short term pain until it clicks (or we give it up).

Could be, I dunno, but whatever he is doing currently just isn't working. It seems to remove the best qualities of Salah, I guess if it clicks it clicks, but right now we're operating with a 60% Salah which teams seem to handle quite well and he's pretty ineffective, until the 80th min when I guess he starts ignoring instructions and just plays like the old Salah.

[rushyman]

Woke up in the last 3 minutes of the game. 

When gomez went RB and Matip came on for me

We looked like us again from that moment

[Schmidt]

Seems to only realize a game is on in the 80th minute

I think that's more to do with the opposition getting tired and leaving gaps than anything.

[killer-heels]

Could be, I dunno, but whatever he is doing currently just isn't working. It seems to remove the best qualities of Salah, I guess if it clicks it clicks, but right now we're operating with a 60% Salah which teams seem to handle quite well and he's pretty ineffective, until the 80th min when I guess he starts ignoring instructions and just plays like the old Salah.

He is creating an insane amount of chances, more than bloody De Bruyne. Its just we have decided thats what we want him to do.