Mo Salah

[Daniel 7]

Paul Gorsty Gorst on Mo Salah:-

In the lengthening list of problems at Liverpool this season, Mohamed Salah features behind a litany of other, more pressing concerns.

The Egyptian has not been at his blistering best so far and looks nowhere the levels he was at 12 months ago, when he was tearing strips off the Premier League. His 29 Premier League goals, in fact, virtually fired Arne Slot's side to the title by the time the warmer months had set in.

Five more so far this season, however, sees him behind only Hugo Ekitike and while this has been a big-spending summer to renovate the attack, the idea of Salah being phased out to accommodate the likes of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak feels a bit premature.

The prospect of Ekitike and Isak being paired together as something of a more traditional two-man frontline has yet to be tried as an experiment and it is a tactical ploy the head coach might trial at some stage, particularly if attacking midfielder Wirtz plays directly behind the pair and tasked with loading the bullets.

In fact, it is something Slot might have forced upon him when Salah departs for the Africa Cup of Nations in December. Let's see how Liverpool fare with the 33-year-old out of the team from that point of the campaign.

It does feel too soon to say Salah is over the hill. He's barely six months into a two-year contract that every commentator in the land was demanding be put in front of him and his advisors after that spellbinding season.

Instead, rather than simply wielding the axe, the more pertinent question for Slot is how to get his forward line firing with the 'Egyptian King' in the team alongside Isak, Ekitike and Wirtz.

'Dropping' the club's finest marksman of the Premier League era feels like it would be a rash overcorrection to a difficult couple of months. Stick by him and the goals will inevitably return again. There are far more concerning problems to address first.

[Daniel 7]

Well depends on him really. If he was happy to come off the bench more and take a back seat to the younger players (and take less money) then there's definitely a spot for him here. But we know that's not going to happen, and the ridiculous contract he's on makes it harder to justify as a squad player.

Agree with everything you've said here - the profile of Salah means he's not going to take that back seat, which is as big an issue as we have now. He's not contributing enough to have that free reign, and we've seen how that doesn't work with other teams in this league, like old Cristiano Ronaldo at United not so long back.

[frank the tank]

Sign the cunt

[fidget]

Keeping till the end of the season will only lead to a sadder ending of ways.

In an idela world, He goes to Afcon, Signs for some Saudi billionares, We get Semenyo after Afcon

And Salah comes back after leadding Egypt to Afcon, We give hime a hero's ovation uoon his return and he goes onto smash the Saudi league.

Semenyo isn't going to Afcon so hopefully we could get him in 1st Jan. We've got the money.

[Harv]

On performance alone, and taking money into consideration too, moving Salah on in January would make a lot of sense.

But that would be a hell of a sad way for a ****ing legend to go out.

Well depends on him really. If he was happy to come off the bench more and take a back seat to the younger players (and take less money) then there's definitely a spot for him here. But we know that's not going to happen, and the ridiculous contract he's on makes it harder to justify as a squad player.

[red g]

Keeping till the end of the season will only lead to a sadder ending of ways.

In an idela world, He goes to Afcon, Signs for some Saudi billionares, We get Semenyo after Afcon

And Salah comes back after leadding Egypt to Afcon, We give hime a hero's ovation uoon his return and he goes onto smash the Saudi league.

[Daniel 7]

On performance alone, and taking money into consideration too, moving Salah on in January would make a lot of sense.

But that would be a hell of a sad way for a ****ing legend to go out.

[Harv]

If so, I don't suppose they expected there to be a net negative value on the pitch in that year. Getting rid in Jan maximises potential financial returns (fee and savings £400k a week) and minimises potential issues with not playing him.

He has to be sold in Jan

[peterbread]

How frustrating must it be for players like Chiesa who puts in so much effort every chance he gets and produces goals and assists in his very limited minutes yet never gets to start in the proper games.

I get keeping Salah on at times because he could produce something out of nothing when playing poorly but that’s not the case right now and players aren’t being picked on merit at the moment which is wrong. Pick the players willing to work hard and are producing for the team.

It might be harsh but there isn’t room for sentiment in football. If you want to be at the top you need to make big decisions and right now they’re not being made.

[Cerbie]

I've been advocating for him to be a second half sub all season, but it might no be realistic tbh. I don't believe he's going to happily accept it, he might sulk, he might complain publicly, it might create issues within the squad, especially if we don't immediately improve without him. It will create huge amounts of noise from outside, could up the level of questioning of slot and increase pressures on him. The mess that was pretty much inevitable with the contract extension has happened sooner than anyone predicted, making it worse, and I think him leaving is the only way out tbh.

Great post. I agree with him having the potential to be an impact sub & your suggestion that it will challenge Slot’s squad management skills. Some of the challenge about the new contract is with the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, however there were a few on here who called it at the time. I wasn’t one of them tho.

The media having a field day now and questioning it are the same ones who were saying we were crazy not to move heaven and earth to resign him last season.

I agree that offloading him during AFCON to the Saudis is the best for all parties now.

[Kenneth]

If so, I don't suppose they expected there to be a net negative value on the pitch in that year. Getting rid in Jan maximises potential financial returns (fee and savings £400k a week) and minimises potential issues with not playing him.

[fidget]

I think the contract extension was done with the intention of selling him and profiting.
If they sell at the end of the season anything over £20m is a profit.

[Kenneth]

I thought maybe the weight of getting to 250 goals had held him down a bit, as once he scored that goal he was bang on it the next game. But no, it has to be age catching up with him. 3 games in a week is too much for even the fittest of 30+ year olds. If we manage his minutes better (and he needs to accept that and not sulk) then I still think he could be a pivotal player for us, so I am not advocating selling him, but he should no longer be the first name on the team sheet.

I've been advocating for him to be a second half sub all season, but it might no be realistic tbh. I don't believe he's going to happily accept it, he might sulk, he might complain publicly, it might create issues within the squad, especially if we don't immediately improve without him. It will create huge amounts of noise from outside, could up the level of questioning of slot and increase pressures on him. The mess that was pretty much inevitable with the contract extension has happened sooner than anyone predicted, making it worse, and I think him leaving is the only way out tbh.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I thought maybe the weight of getting to 250 goals had held him down a bit, as once he scored that goal he was bang on it the next game. But no, it has to be age catching up with him. 3 games in a week is too much for even the fittest of 30+ year olds. If we manage his minutes better (and he needs to accept that and not sulk) then I still think he could be a pivotal player for us, so I am not advocating selling him, but he should no longer be the first name on the team sheet.

Nail on the head imo, the entire post.

[Scratch]

I thought maybe the weight of getting to 250 goals had held him down a bit, as once he scored that goal he was bang on it the next game. But no, it has to be age catching up with him. 3 games in a week is too much for even the fittest of 30+ year olds. If we manage his minutes better (and he needs to accept that and not sulk) then I still think he could be a pivotal player for us, so I am not advocating selling him, but he should no longer be the first name on the team sheet.