I’d be shocked if he didn’t stop after the first beep and look to the skies to see where the noise came from.
Forwards’ race
- Thread starter rurikbird
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Next up, probably the worst team to ever play in the Premier League.
0-0 incoming
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Comparing his performances as the 9 to on the wing is a pointless exercise. Much like Cody, the guy is and has always been a winger.
He's not a 15-20 goal a season winger, then again there are very few out there who are but he's always been important to the team with maintaining our defensive shape and also carrying us up the pitch whilst holding onto the ball waiting for others to get up in support. Absolutely incredible yesterday until Jota went off.
This is what makes Mo great, he always, always takes the defender on when given the chance. I think his mentality is at worst I’ll get a throw-in. Often in games he keeps losing the ball but after 8th or 9th attempt finally gets through a defender and boom.
Salah moves to 32
Nunez adds a much needed goal to his stats
Jota continues to prove he needs time to get back up to speed.
We desperately need Gakpo back to his best pronto if we want to win the CL too.
Nunez adds a much needed goal to his stats
Jota continues to prove he needs time to get back up to speed.
We desperately need Gakpo back to his best pronto if we want to win the CL too.
View: https://x.com/LewisSteele_/status/1901699628908650969
If any Liverpool fan was in doubt about how much their team would miss Mohamed Salah if he does not sign a new contract this summer, they should watch back the Carabao Cup final.
Without their key cog, the Arne Slot machine malfunctioned and then some.
The joke here is that Salah was, of course, playing. But his anonymous performance highlighted just how much they rely on their talisman to come up with the big moments in the biggest games.
He was effectively nullified and with the Egyptian putting in a rare shocker of a display, Liverpool’s attack looked toothless. No Salah, no party. To slightly reword a banner in the Kop, if they don’t pay Mo the dough, who is there to fire the bow?
It would be a grand over-reaction to blame the disappointment on Salah alone, noting his record-breaking season.
But most punches that Liverpool threw at Newcastle were weak and swatted away. It was not until stoppage time that the Premier League champions-elect caused any real Geordie anxiety – on the pitch at least. Too little, too late.
In 43 games this season, Salah has been involved in a staggering 54 goals – 32 scored by himself and 22 assists. That means the 32-year-old has been accountable for 51 per cent of the total goals scored by Arne Slot’s men this term.
The other five forwards – Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Federico Chiesa - have scored 46 between them. Hardly paltry numbers, but if Salah is not firing, who is there to take a game by the scruff of its neck and tilt a tight contest in Liverpool’s favour?
Diaz has scored one goal in his last 19 games; Nunez one in 13; Jota has not scored since mid-January. All have been poor and Gakpo has been injured. Surely Sunday's goalscorer Chiesa, and maybe energetic midfielder Harvey Elliott, deserve a run in the starting team soon?
The point is that the goals are not evenly shared throughout the team. If Salah has a bad day, most of the time Liverpool as a whole have a bad day, save for a few Hail Marys from the substitutes' bench in the dying embers of games.
Compare this to Jurgen Klopp’s great team. If Salah did not turn up, there was Sadio Mane, who scored just one fewer than his Egyptian colleague in the 2019-20 title-winning campaign, or Roberto Firmino leading the line in a creative sense with 12 goals and 13 assists.
That year, the full backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson notched 27 assists between them and that statistic stands at just eight this term. Under Arne Slot there is a different style of play, sure, but it is another supportive factor of the theory that aside from Salah, the creativity is lacking.
And any Reds fan thinking they will be just fine if Alexander-Arnold leaves amid an offer from Real Madrid this summer, should think again. The injured star’s creativity and unorthodox passing from deep was sorely missed.
All of the starting front three had a terrible day, but the service was non-existent. It was not until Elliott, Curtis Jones and Chiesa came on that Liverpool started to seriously threaten.
The midfield unit of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai all deserve consideration for the Premier League team of the season but all have looked leggy in the last fortnight. Has Slot been too loyal to his trusted trio?
Given Salah’s record this season, it feels harsh to overreact, but he is not exempt from criticism. On Liverpool’s biggest week of the season, the main man has faltered and his Ballon d’Or hopes have taken a significant hit, too.
The timing could not be any worse, but maybe there is a cause-effect relationship here, given this was his 11th final for Liverpool and his record in those is just two goals and one assist. He also tasted defeat in two Africa Cup of Nations finals with Egypt.
Obviously, the opponents are tougher in finals, so there is that caveat, plus the fact he hobbled off injured in the 2018 Champions League final and 2022 FA Cup final.
And not every superstar shines when the stage is brightest, as any Arsenal fan would have to concede about Thierry Henry, who scored 228 goals for the Gunners but none in finals.
But the statistics are still alarming. Across his Liverpool career, Salah has averaged one goal or assist every game, but in finals that falls to 0.3 per 90 minutes.
For the first time in his eight years at the club, the Egyptian failed to have a shot on goal or create a chance in a game in which he completed 90 minutes. Talk about picking your moments, Mo!
Salah is 33 in three months and, whether he signs a new deal or not, Liverpool know they cannot rely on him forever. The forward line must be freshened up this summer, with all five of Salah’s attacking colleagues guilty of inconsistency and being prone to injury.
They say you learn more in times of hardship and Slot may have taken more lessons from this challenging week than he has across the last few months of his team being on easy street.
The boss left Wembley in casual gear and will now have a week of rest with his family as Liverpool’s next game is not until April 2 against Everton. He now knows the strengths and limitations of his team like the back of his hand.
"Jota - 0 goals in 10 games
Nunez - 1 goal in 13 games
Diaz - 1 goal in 18 games
2 goals in 41 combined games"
Diogo Jota is stuck in a rut. Given his dismal recent performances, he was lucky to start at Wembley and made little impression. Jota, who completed just four of his 10 passes, made a complete hash of Liverpool’s only chance in the first half and has now gone 10 games without a goal. He looks devoid of confidence.
Luis Diaz fared little better and his early-season hot streak is a distant memory. The Colombian has one goal in his last 18 appearances.
If Liverpool were going to hit so many aimless long balls it would have made much more sense for Slot to start Darwin Nunez, who came on for Jota but fired blanks and has netted just once in 13 matches.
www.sportinglife.com
Jota, meanwhile, has eight goals this season for the Reds across all competitions.
His last goal arrived in January, the equaliser against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, and the only other time he’s struck in 2025 was in an FA Cup win against Accrington Stanley.
In his last six starts for Arne Slot’s side, he’s managed just a single assist. And this during a crunch time of the season for the Premier League leaders.
The former Wolves winger blanked against Plymouth Argyle as the Reds crashed out of the FA Cup. He blanked in both starts against Paris Saint-Germain as the Ligue 1 side knocked the Reds out of Europe, and then he fluffed the best chance of the game for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, prior to the late Federico Chiesa goal.
He’s been at the scene of the failures for the Reds recently. It isn’t solely down to him, of course, but as the man tasked with spearheading the attack for Slot, more is expected.
View: https://x.com/Saudifutbol/status/1901867848001351789
Nunez - 1 goal in 13 games
Diaz - 1 goal in 18 games
2 goals in 41 combined games"
Diogo Jota is stuck in a rut. Given his dismal recent performances, he was lucky to start at Wembley and made little impression. Jota, who completed just four of his 10 passes, made a complete hash of Liverpool’s only chance in the first half and has now gone 10 games without a goal. He looks devoid of confidence.
Luis Diaz fared little better and his early-season hot streak is a distant memory. The Colombian has one goal in his last 18 appearances.
If Liverpool were going to hit so many aimless long balls it would have made much more sense for Slot to start Darwin Nunez, who came on for Jota but fired blanks and has netted just once in 13 matches.
Carabao Cup final showed why Liverpool must be in the Alexander Isak conversation
Late in the first half of the Carabao Cup final, Liverpool finally managed to carve out an opportunity. It was their only shot of the half.
www.sportinglife.com
Jota, meanwhile, has eight goals this season for the Reds across all competitions.
His last goal arrived in January, the equaliser against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, and the only other time he’s struck in 2025 was in an FA Cup win against Accrington Stanley.
In his last six starts for Arne Slot’s side, he’s managed just a single assist. And this during a crunch time of the season for the Premier League leaders.
The former Wolves winger blanked against Plymouth Argyle as the Reds crashed out of the FA Cup. He blanked in both starts against Paris Saint-Germain as the Ligue 1 side knocked the Reds out of Europe, and then he fluffed the best chance of the game for Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, prior to the late Federico Chiesa goal.
He’s been at the scene of the failures for the Reds recently. It isn’t solely down to him, of course, but as the man tasked with spearheading the attack for Slot, more is expected.
View: https://x.com/Saudifutbol/status/1901867848001351789
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