Topic: Mohamed Salah - Best in the World *

[Simplexity]

Nah come off it. He's been well below his usual standards for the best part of a year now. Remember when he used to be able to beat a man? Can't remember the last time...

Remember when he used to be able to trap a ball? I would take that at this point.

[Sat1]

A lot of players off form, probably tired. Him included. Last season fucked us

[Haggis36]

Load of know alls in here.
Most of what I read was give him the money. There’s so many wise after the event.

This place would have been bloody murder if we hadn't renewed him in the summer, hardly anyone was advocating us letting him go for football reasons (as opposed to the more emotive "well if he won't sign then screw him, bin him off" posts).

It's funny though, for years we bleated about how clever we were for not giving big contracts to aging players and we've done exactly that, repeatedly, for the past few years. £200k four year deal for a 29 year-old Thiago. Four year deal on probably £150k+ a week for a 31 year-old Henderson. £350k a week for a 30 year-old Mo for 3 years. New 4 year deal for VVD aged 30 (almost immediately post ACL), you'd assume on similar to his old £180k a week deal.

That group alone must be our four highest paid players by some distance? All signed or renewed in the past 24 months, all on gargantuan wages, all the wrong side of 30. It's Barcelona-esque.

Don't know what to do with Mo - feels like we should be trying to get our most prolific goalscorer as close to the goal as possible, because as it is he's struggling to burn defenders for pace and doesn't appear to consistently have the trickery to beat them. He's still capable of some superb passes which we've seen him do this season, but fuck me how the mighty have fallen that that's about all we can say. 8 open play goals this calendar year, and it's October. It's not really good enough.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

Not seen a tune out of him since Afcon, have no idea what to do with him.

Have him in and around the box regularly and he's still got enough in him to be hitting double figures in goals. Maybe play him off Nunez, instead of Jota off Nunez. Assuming we don't go back to that 4-3-3 next game.

[SteveLFC]

If we're going to persist with this 442, maybe its worth playing Nunez and Salah together up front, with Diaz on the left, and then play Trent at RM with Gomez at RB?

I think this is something we should seriously look at. Assuming Trent will be back sooner than later, pushing him to the right of the midfield is the best option for him at the moment. I prefer to think of it as 4231 rather than 442. Nunez at the top supported by Diaz on the left, Sarah/Firmino centre and Trent on the right with Fabinho and Thiago/Hendo as the double pivot.
                     
                                  Alisson

Gomez        Donate/Matip      Virgil         Robbo

                 Hendo/Thiago          Fabinho

Trent                   Salah/Firmino               Diaz
             
                               Nunez

[SteveLFC]

A lot of players off form, probably tired. Him included. Last season fucked us

I'm not buying this tiredness thing anymore. I get he was knackered toward the back end of last season but these guys and especially Salah are super athletes with access to the best physios and all the best medical treatments known to man. I just think that all the players have dropped their intensity levels for whatever reason and Salah is the main culprit in this. I am not saying he can't be arsed but its like a plague in our squad at the moment and its hard for him to shake it off. I believe this is the job of the coaches and physios to cure it and its why they earn the big bucks.

[JackWard33]

This place would have been bloody murder if we hadn't renewed him in the summer, hardly anyone was advocating us letting him go for football reasons (as opposed to the more emotive "well if he won't sign then screw him, bin him off" posts).

It's funny though, for years we bleated about how clever we were for not giving big contracts to aging players and we've done exactly that, repeatedly, for the past few years. £200k four year deal for a 29 year-old Thiago. Four year deal on probably £150k+ a week for a 31 year-old Henderson. £350k a week for a 30 year-old Mo for 3 years. New 4 year deal for VVD aged 30 (almost immediately post ACL), you'd assume on similar to his old £180k a week deal.

That group alone must be our four highest paid players by some distance? All signed or renewed in the past 24 months, all on gargantuan wages, all the wrong side of 30. It's Barcelona-esque.

Good post ... I mean there are posters in the transfer thread that will tell you the age curve doesn't exist any more because our players have 6 packs... but you're absolutely right.

It's even worse when you consider our situation. We don't have as much budget as those we compete with which needs we need to be more efficient not less, more ruthless not as ruthless or less

Fuck knows on Mo also... but watching the 2nd half vs Arsenal was sobering as fuck - we should be the young guns running over the opposition, finishing games the stronger.
Some people keep using the word 'transition' for this season, but its not - we're not trasitioning away from these players were still relying on them

[decosabute]

Nah come off it. He's been well below his usual standards for the best part of a year now. Remember when he used to be able to beat a man? Can't remember the last time...

Yes, I'm afraid this is the truth. Like with a lot of stuff around us at the moment, many are burying their heads in the sand regarding Salah. It's a full 9 months of massive underperformance now. That's not a blip or a bad run of form or bad luck. I hope he can get back to some of what we've seen in previous years, but it does sometimes happen that a great player simply drops off a cliff - it happened to Torres, it happened to Alexis Sanchez. I hope that, unlike those players, Salah recovers.

Whether it's retrievable or not, Salah's form isn't worthy of starting right now. Everyone's looking at our defence, but his drop-off is arguably bigger and more sustained than any other individual's.

[Red-Soldier]

Seems like the answer to 'who to keep between Salah and Mane' was actually neither. Nobody could have guessed it. Also we should have answered this question two years ago. Ah well.

Possibly.

His form was great at the beginning of last season, then dropped off a cliff after the AFCON, and hasn't really picked up since.

And yes, we did leave it too late.  There has been some poor planning involved, plus severe lack of squad refreshment when we were on top.

People were still calling us the best team in Europe last season.

[Haggis36]

I'm not buying this tiredness thing anymore. I get he was knackered toward the back end of last season but these guys and especially Salah are super athletes with access to the best physios and all the best medical treatments known to man. I just think that all the players have dropped their intensity levels for whatever reason and Salah is the main culprit in this. I am not saying he can't be arsed but its like a plague in our squad at the moment and its hard for him to shake it off. I believe this is the job of the coaches and physios to cure it and its why they earn the big bucks.

I don't know if that is what is causing his drop in form or not, but it's sort of academic really isn't it. We're 8 games into a season where he had the summer off - he's not going to suddenly get less tired over the course of the season. Or next, when he's a year older with more football in the legs.

We don't have the personnel/quality to rotate him, nor would it be taken well by him I imagine (nor FSG, given the cost). So even if he is tired, we're going to have to figure out a way to compensate.

[wampa1]

When Mo was at Roma alot of his goals were tap ins, don't get me wrong he scored screamers at times but he isn't close enough to the goal. I always remember a quote by Guardiola or someone close to him (yeah yeah call him what you want) but he was asked how Messi started to score so much and it was simply because Guardiola asked him to play closer to the goal. Mo.is so far from goal what are people expecting...

We really need to re-evaluate how to get the most out of these players right now.

Yep, when Mane was struggling we moved him central and he thrived.

[Beninger]

This place would have been bloody murder if we hadn't renewed him in the summer, hardly anyone was advocating us letting him go for football reasons (as opposed to the more emotive "well if he won't sign then screw him, bin him off" posts).

It's funny though, for years we bleated about how clever we were for not giving big contracts to aging players and we've done exactly that, repeatedly, for the past few years. £200k four year deal for a 29 year-old Thiago. Four year deal on probably £150k+ a week for a 31 year-old Henderson. £350k a week for a 30 year-old Mo for 3 years. New 4 year deal for VVD aged 30 (almost immediately post ACL), you'd assume on similar to his old £180k a week deal.

That group alone must be our four highest paid players by some distance? All signed or renewed in the past 24 months, all on gargantuan wages, all the wrong side of 30. It's Barcelona-esque.

Don't know what to do with Mo - feels like we should be trying to get our most prolific goalscorer as close to the goal as possible, because as it is he's struggling to burn defenders for pace and doesn't appear to consistently have the trickery to beat them. He's still capable of some superb passes which we've seen him do this season, but fuck me how the mighty have fallen that that's about all we can say. 8 open play goals this calendar year, and it's October. It's not really good enough.

We’ve spent a lot on wages, and some of it probably shouldn’t have been spent. I think if we begin to look at wages and transfer fees coming out of the same pot, we can get a better picture of our funds. Just looking at transfer fees won’t give the whole story.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

Staying central near the box is a well-trodden route for a sharp finisher once the legs go a little. Not a perfect comparison but the likes of Shearer, Owen who both used to run the channels, take players on from anywhere benefited massively having Bellamy (at Newcastle for Shearer) and Heskey for us do the running, hold it up, open up spaces for them. After Shearer's knee and Owen's hamstring injuries respectively.

Salah cannot afford to be isolated, the minutes we saw of him and Nunez together at Palace in the box it looked great. Looks the best solution so far imo.

Sad though, how quickly these things can change.

[James...]

It's a major concern at this point. 10 months of this. Not sure how we fix it. It's not like he is playing poorly, he just is... barely involved. Doesn't look like scoring consistently and hasn't for a long time now. When he does get in shooting position, his finishing is just so... average.

[Knight]

It makes no sense sticking him side right in what Klopp says is a 4-4-2. If you’re playing this shape he has got to be central. Because with 2 central forwards inside him there isn’t even much room for him to come inside. At least when it’s a 3 up top, even if the 9 is a true 9 unlike Bobby, he could in theory move inside. In a 442 he has got to stay wide.

[stevieG786]

Would love to see him play upfront with Nunez, he’s our best finisher, on the wing he’s struggling to beat his man

[MH41]

Looking at his game in isolation (without seeing his options etc) he appears to always slow our game down?
If you receive the ball in the final third, surely it's more often than not, beneficial to attack with speed, but Mo seems to be cutting back and inside?
Maybe one option is to play a left footer on the left and a right footer on the right, and get the ball into the box earlier, such as for Nuñez goal today, when Diaz popped up on the right?
He is also offering very little as an outlet at the moment.

[ljycb]

Would love to see him play upfront with Nunez, he’s our best finisher, on the wing he’s struggling to beat his man

I think there’s a chance you see that with Díaz out. If we are going to use this system more often than not, then I would like to see Elliott play in that wider role with Salah central next to Núñez.

[Studgotelli]

His one footedness makes him much easier to defend against now he’s lost some pace.

One of the good things about Mane was that he was very two footed.

[RideTheWalrus]

I have few concerns about Mo, his numbers are still good, and he's one of the few players this season who genuinely seems like he's trying, running and getting his head down. Just hasn't clicked, yeah he may be declining, who knows but it's hard to tell when you're in a team that's doing as shite as us right now.

[kcbworth]

I'm not buying this tiredness thing anymore. I get he was knackered toward the back end of last season but these guys and especially Salah are super athletes with access to the best physios and all the best medical treatments known to man. I just think that all the players have dropped their intensity levels for whatever reason and Salah is the main culprit in this. I am not saying he can't be arsed but its like a plague in our squad at the moment and its hard for him to shake it off. I believe this is the job of the coaches and physios to cure it and its why they earn the big bucks.

Salah is the one that earns the big bucks, not the staff

[Dave McCoy]

If Trent is out long term then there's a reason to re-assess Salah's positioning and try to change things up. Hopefully that gets Salah back to his goal scoring best as otherwise the extension looks a massive miscalculation if he truly is one of the top earners in the entire league.

[Historical Fool]

Nah come off it. He's been well below his usual standards for the best part of a year now. Remember when he used to be able to beat a man? Can't remember the last time...

He beat two yesterday…

[MdArshad]

Good post ... I mean there are posters in the transfer thread that will tell you the age curve doesn't exist any more because our players have 6 packs... but you're absolutely right.

It's even worse when you consider our situation. We don't have as much budget as those we compete with which needs we need to be more efficient not less, more ruthless not as ruthless or less

Fuck knows on Mo also... but watching the 2nd half vs Arsenal was sobering as fuck - we should be the young guns running over the opposition, finishing games the stronger.
Some people keep using the word 'transition' for this season, but its not - we're not trasitioning away from these players were still relying on them

Watching the Napoli match was just the same. Looking at how energetic they were reminded myself of our UCL winning team 4 years ago.

[mrantarctica]

Watching the Napoli match was just the same. Looking at how energetic they were reminded myself of our UCL winning team 4 years ago.

The analogy is not a bad one. That Barcelona team pretty much fielded a bunch of ageing stars all over 30 (except I think Lenglet, Coutinho and Ter Stegen) and were completely done for pace, energy and intensity. Their unceremonious decline actually started before that, but by then was brought into very sharp relief.

Also worth noting that a certain Arthur Melo played for Barca as a sub that day.

[MdArshad]

The analogy is not a bad one. That Barcelona team pretty much fielded a bunch of ageing stars all over 30 (except I think Lenglet, Coutinho and Ter Stegen) and were completely done for pace, energy and intensity. Their unceremonious decline actually started before that, but by then was brought into very sharp relief.

Also worth noting that a certain Arthur Melo played for Barca as a sub that day.

I know people complain on how Barca got their money for the rebuild by selling future rights etc. At least they are trying to get back a winning team.

Not sure how we are going to rebuild with the sell to buy policy. Nobody other than Diaz/Konate currently or the 2 younger Fulham buys can be sold for any profit.

[James...]

6 goals from open play in his last 35 games apparently.

[Cormack Snr]

This place would have been bloody murder if we hadn't renewed him in the summer, hardly anyone was advocating us letting him go for football reasons (as opposed to the more emotive "well if he won't sign then screw him, bin him off" posts).

It's funny though, for years we bleated about how clever we were for not giving big contracts to aging players and we've done exactly that, repeatedly, for the past few years. £200k four year deal for a 29 year-old Thiago. Four year deal on probably £150k+ a week for a 31 year-old Henderson. £350k a week for a 30 year-old Mo for 3 years. New 4 year deal for VVD aged 30 (almost immediately post ACL), you'd assume on similar to his old £180k a week deal.

That group alone must be our four highest paid players by some distance? All signed or renewed in the past 24 months, all on gargantuan wages, all the wrong side of 30. It's Barcelona-esque.

Don't know what to do with Mo - feels like we should be trying to get our most prolific goalscorer as close to the goal as possible, because as it is he's struggling to burn defenders for pace and doesn't appear to consistently have the trickery to beat them. He's still capable of some superb passes which we've seen him do this season, but fuck me how the mighty have fallen that that's about all we can say. 8 open play goals this calendar year, and it's October. It's not really good enough.

The club, Klopp and fitness coaches see him every day and for the best part of ten months he has deteriorated, if we would have moved him on and bought someone younger it was the time to act. We took the easy option and have lacked ambition. Clubs now crowd him, and he has lost the speed and guile out on the wing.

[LFCTikiTaka]

The club, Klopp and fitness coaches see him every day and for the best part of ten months he has deteriorated, if we would have moved him on and bought someone younger it was the time to act. We took the easy option and have lacked ambition. Clubs now crowd him, and he has lost the speed and guile out on the wing.

Salah made it very clear that he wasn't going to leave in the summer so the decision was pretty straight forward between renewing or letting him go for nothing. I think the initial plan was to move on atleast one of Sadio or Mo a couple of years ago and reinvest into the rest of the squad a la Coutinho, but Covid stopped all of those plans.

[Adeemo]

Start taking the fullback on, on the outside every now and again. So when he does fancy coming inside it becomes a lot less predictable. I can’t believe he’s not being instructed to do this, especially when Nunez will be in the middle for any cut backs.

[RyanBabel19]

So so predictable at the moment

Watching his performance against Newcastle was mad, run at fullback.. do nothing, get tackled. Run at fullback... do nothing... lose the ball. Rinse, repeat.

The guy can do pretty much anything with the ball and now seems to get it and look like he has no idea what he's supposed to do with the ball

[clinical]

Something isn't right with him. Change of system or he's not what he once was physcially. Maybe trying him more central would help?

[didi shamone]

It's easy to blame the big contract and it may well prove to be a mistake, but his slump in form happened directly after the Afcon and long before he signed it.
He was effective in the 2nd half of last season but way below his best. He's decidedly ordinary now. Not the best in the world nor the best in our team.

[lionel_messias]

It's easy to blame the big contract and it may well prove to be a mistake, but his slump in form happened directly after the Afcon and long before he signed it.
He was effective in the 2nd half of last season but way below his best. He's decidedly ordinary now. Not the best in the world nor the best in our team.

Is it worth saying that Salah was at his very best when Mané and Firmino were also in the team? Also, when our counter-pressing was working properly, we'd release Salah early and teams just had no way to cope with him, he was just so instinctive and fast in his thinking and execution.

We've changed now and I think some of our new players, like Diaz and Jota are a bit more individualistic than Sadio and Bobby were/are.

Time to change up and tweak things; Mo and Darwin partnership maybe?

[Cruiser]

Klopp needs to sit him down calmly and then give him a right fuckin earful.

[Samie]

If we persist with this 4-2-2-2 put him up top with Darwin now that it looks like Diaz might be out for a bit.

[rushyman]

Do a Toshack Keegan on Nunez and Salah?

[lionel_messias]

Do a Toshack Keegan on Nunez and Salah?

Unless the power of RAW HAIR!!



*said as a near bald man

[MPowerYNWA]

Not sure why people keep bringing up his contract - his form had dropped off a cliff way before even signing that. I genuinely believe he is trying his best, but he isn’t having much impact.

Salah, Trent, Gomez - that would be he right hand side for me.  Massive difference between right back and right midfield for Trent, but to be honest our midfield isn’t exactly dynamic / ultra skilful for him not to be able to adapt.

If we put Elliot in place of Mo, then unless the intention is put mo as a squad player (!!!) he wouldn’t have a logical place in the team - he wouldn’t make a good number 10.

[Adamlfc2307]

Salah has been poor since afcon which is very concerning. Hoping the winter break will give him some time to relax and hopefully come back sharper, same goes for a few of our lads really. However if after the World Cup Salah still isn’t firing then we are in trouble and we should be looking to offload him next summer, hopefully another Barcelona style Countinho bid will come in and we can use that for a re build