Mo Salah

[Mr Pink]

Why does he deserve to be out of the team when others are equally as bad but still get picked? That’s possibly how Mo is seeing it.

Instead of looking at why he deserves to be out of the team look at why he deserves to be in it? Saying that other players have been equally as bad, hardly cuts it. I haven’t checked, but I would guess that Salah has had the most minutes of any of the attackers this season (or maybe gakpo). He hasn’t been good enough, neither have the others.

The only player in the squad who would be justified in complaining about being dropped right now is Szoboslai.

[Kenneth]

Why does he deserve to be out of the team when others are equally as bad but still get picked? That’s possibly how Mo is seeing it.

They aren't. He's the worst, because he doesn't try to do the basics of attack and defend, which has a ripple effect through the team. Konate and kerkes have made mistakes, and by the nature of their positions it can end in goals, but Salah makes as many mistakes but won't or can't do the running needed in the PL. The PL is full of athletes, it's not like it was even 5 years ago, and every one of our players needs to match that.

[vlahka]

Would not make a jot of difference if a transfer fee etc was agreed upon as he would be the one that has the final say on whether he went or not and on what wages he would get and so on.

You make him out to be a mercenary. If he was only after the money he would have left to saudi long ago. I'm pointing out how he probably feels betrayed. No different to when Alonso was pushed out.

[Doc_Piptorious]

You make him out to be a mercenary. If he was only after the money he would have left to saudi long ago. I'm pointing out how he probably feels betrayed. No different to when Alonso was pushed out.

No I did not.

I said that the club could not sell him without him agreeing to move to the other team and him agreeing to wages/terms with that other team.

As for Alonso being pushed out. Alonso refused to move when Rafa wanted to replace him with Gareth Barry and then moved a season later to a team he wanted to move to and got whatever financial terms he was happy with from that move.

[Catrin]

No I did not.

I said that the club could not sell him without him agreeing to move to the other team and him agreeing to wages/terms with that other team.

As for Alonso being pushed out. Alonso refused to move when Rafa wanted to replace him with Gareth Barry and then moved a season later to a team he wanted to move to and got whatever financial terms he was happy with from that move.

Alonso had two good seasons in 04/05 and 05/06 followed by two quite poor seasons in 06/07 and 07/08. So poor that nobody wanted him when Rafa tried to sell him. That gave him a kick up the arse and he did a reverse-Ibou in 08/09 where he had a storming season as he tried his hardest to convince Real to sign him.

[frank the tank]

Instead of looking at why he deserves to be out of the team look at why he deserves to be in it? Saying that other players have been equally as bad, hardly cuts it. I haven’t checked, but I would guess that Salah has had the most minutes of any of the attackers this season (or maybe gakpo). He hasn’t been good enough, neither have the others.

The only player in the squad who would be justified in complaining about being dropped right now is Szoboslai.

****in right.

I think Salah mentality is that he wants to leave and is looking to force a move to Saudi. Ronaldo did the exact same thing when he forced his move to Saudi.....

[Doc_Piptorious]

Alonso had two good seasons in 04/05 and 05/06 followed by two quite poor seasons in 06/07 and 07/08. So poor that nobody wanted him when Rafa tried to sell him. That gave him a kick up the arse and he did a reverse-Ibou in 08/09 where he had a storming season as he tried his hardest to convince Real to sign him.

So he was not forced out then

[Catrin]

This agreement he had with Slot, effectively “you save energy by not tracking back as long as you use that energy to score goals.” The team accommodated that last season between Trent, Ibou and Dom, and it worked. The transitions tended to be long diags from Virgil to Mo or worldies from Trent for Mo to run onto.

This season, the opposition are attacking down our right more than they were last season. Trent isn’t here to play those worldies. Virgil hasn’t been hitting the diags. I wonder if Mo’s point is “you’re criticising me for not tracking back because I’m also not scoring but the reason I’m not scoring is because of your tactics and not replacing Trent’s passing. Dropping me makes it look like I’m to blame but it’s your fault.”

[Catrin]

So he was not forced out then

No, not at all. He got the hump, channeled it and turned it into a positive.

[badpiggy]

This agreement he had with Slot, effectively “you save energy by not tracking back as long as you use that energy to score goals.” The team accommodated that last season between Trent, Ibou and Dom, and it worked. The transitions tended to be long diags from Virgil to Mo or worldies from Trent for Mo to run onto.

This season, the opposition are attacking down our right more than they were last season. Trent isn’t here to play those worldies. Virgil hasn’t been hitting the diags. I wonder if Mo’s point is “you’re criticising me for not tracking back because I’m also not scoring but the reason I’m not scoring is because of your tactics and not replacing Trent’s passing. Dropping me makes it look like I’m to blame but it’s your fault.”

I heard this very point made on a podcast yesterday. It certainly made me think. Although in fairness, Bradley played a good bit last year and in my memory, he linked up very well with Mo as well but in a different way than Trent. I guess stats would prove me right or wrong on that.

[Doc_Piptorious]

This agreement he had with Slot, effectively “you save energy by not tracking back as long as you use that energy to score goals.” The team accommodated that last season between Trent, Ibou and Dom, and it worked. The transitions tended to be long diags from Virgil to Mo or worldies from Trent for Mo to run onto.

This season, the opposition are attacking down our right more than they were last season. Trent isn’t here to play those worldies. Virgil hasn’t been hitting the diags. I wonder if Mo’s point is “you’re criticising me for not tracking back because I’m also not scoring but the reason I’m not scoring is because of your tactics and not replacing Trent’s passing. Dropping me makes it look like I’m to blame but it’s your fault.”

Which would be a valid point to make were it not for the fact that TAA's assist numbers dropped big time in the league the last two seasons with us and also his Shot creating actions and chance creating actions dropped significantly during his final two seasons.


Our title winning season was TAA's worst season (since he bacme a regular starter) with us in terms of him setting up shots, his second worst in terms of him making goal chances and his second worst in terms of actual assists.


So in no world can Salah potentially point to TAA leaving as being a genuine excuse for his own bad form. Salah excelled last season despite TAA underperforming form.

In recent seasons the guy that started creating more chances and assists for Mo was actually Darwin Nunez. Hence Nunez only being one assist behind TAA in terms of assists to Salah despite TAA being at Liverpool far longer than Nunez.

The point about VVD hitting long diagonals is a moot point too imo. VVD needs a player to be pulling away into space in order to hit those balls otherwise all he is doing is feeding the other team's fullbacks.

In recent games VVD has been hitting those long passes again, mostly to Szobo, so is clear that if a player is in space VVD will look for the pass and if the option is not there he will play through the middle.

Though I doubt Salah is going to come out and say something like that tbh as blaming current players for not passing to him would just cause friction with teammates and blaming his dip in form on the loss of ex players would open him up for a counter arguement that maybe his amazing form of seasons gone by was not on him (which would be untrue as Salah was truly elite for season after season).

[Kenneth]

Saudi club chief urges teams not to sign Mohamed Salah amid Liverpool exit rumours

Mohamed Salah is not a suitable acquisition for the Saudi Pro League, with clubs instead urged to pursue younger talents such as Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr, according to Al-Kholood chairman Ben Harburg.

"There's a narrative around him that they asked him to come before and he rejected us. These are not people that like to be spurned and are going to come back around the second time," Harburg stated.

"So I do think that there's already, even amongst the public, much more apprehension around his coming into the league. He's 33 years old, he got paid a boatload (at Liverpool)... and has underperformed massively since then."

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/mohamed-salah-saudi-arabia-liverpool-exit-b2882144.html

[rudedog]

Some good points here

[ame="https://youtu.be/tuIVp-txD2I"]Are Liverpool Actually BETTER Without Mo Salah? - YouTube[/ame]

[memzey]

Alonso had two good seasons in 04/05 and 05/06 followed by two quite poor seasons in 06/07 and 07/08. So poor that nobody wanted him when Rafa tried to sell him. That gave him a kick up the arse and he did a reverse-Ibou in 08/09 where he had a storming season as he tried his hardest to convince Real to sign him.

Alonso's only dip in his, otherwise world class, form for us as a player occurred as a result of that horror challenge against Chelsea. He was imperious before the injury and once he had fully recovered from it.

[Exiled_red]

Why does he deserve to be out of the team when others are equally as bad but still get picked? That’s possibly how Mo is seeing it.

For me there are 2 answers to that, firstly the interview that he gave that was selfish and put himself ahead of the team and put an under fire manager in a difficult position. Were it not for that interview he would at least be in the squad...

The second answer is the situation before the interview. That has been a result of poor form which even he would have to admit. Why are others still getting picked? Well that comes down to availability of alternatives etc. Konate was (IMO) only playing because Gomez wasn't fit and there was no-one else. MacAllister has been dropped and IMO would have been more so were Jones not unavailable for a while. The problem for Salah is that he has been given a pass so he doesn't have to defend, the 'deal' being that he makes up for that by what he gives the side going forward and he hasn't been doing that, not doing enough going forward and doing little defensively makes him a passenger and we can't afford that at the moment...