Nah... I am done with bowing to the white men.
Has Salah changed?
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And that shows the folly of wanting to replace him as some have suggested.
Not sure how much Salah has changed but .......
Salah is nonchalant and modest about his influence – as is his character – but he is, perhaps, amongst the purest and most encouraging examples of a sportsperson using their status to make positive change.
And there has, without doubt, been tangible change. A study, published in May, by the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, revealed an 18.9% decrease in hate crimes towards Muslims in Liverpool since Salah’s arrival at the club. There have been drastically fewer anti-Muslim tweets, too.
“Why did hate crimes decrease? There are two speculative explanations that we’ve thought about,” William Marble, a co-author of Stanford University’s study, tells LFC Stories. “The first is that people who would have committed hate crimes are now more tolerant. But I think it’s unlikely that extreme bigots who would have committed hate crimes become more tolerant after seeing a football star that doesn’t look like them.
“The second explanation I think is more likely: with lots of people talking about Mo Salah, it became clear that people like Salah are welcome — sending a message to people who are motivated by hate that their views are not widely shared.”
Salah is nonchalant and modest about his influence – as is his character – but he is, perhaps, amongst the purest and most encouraging examples of a sportsperson using their status to make positive change.
And there has, without doubt, been tangible change. A study, published in May, by the Department of Political Science at Stanford University, revealed an 18.9% decrease in hate crimes towards Muslims in Liverpool since Salah’s arrival at the club. There have been drastically fewer anti-Muslim tweets, too.
“Why did hate crimes decrease? There are two speculative explanations that we’ve thought about,” William Marble, a co-author of Stanford University’s study, tells LFC Stories. “The first is that people who would have committed hate crimes are now more tolerant. But I think it’s unlikely that extreme bigots who would have committed hate crimes become more tolerant after seeing a football star that doesn’t look like them.
“The second explanation I think is more likely: with lots of people talking about Mo Salah, it became clear that people like Salah are welcome — sending a message to people who are motivated by hate that their views are not widely shared.”
from www.thisisanfield.com
[article]
Mohamed Salah returns to Melwood early after “holiday I didn’t go on”
Jack Lusby
Mohamed Salah revealed he has stayed on Merseyside during Liverpool’s winter break, training at Melwood ahead of a return to action at Norwich.
The Reds’ first-team squad were given a week off following the 4-0 win over Southampton on February 1, before reporting back to prepare for the trip to Carrow Road.
Meanwhile, Neil Critchley led the club’s youngest-ever side to a 1-0 victory over Shrewsbury in the FA Cup, with James Milner sat behind the bench in a show of support.
Milner has since departed on a brief holiday, as has Sadio Mane after the pair underwent further rehabilitation for hamstring injuries at Melwood.
Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have all trained together in Dubai, Alisson joined his brother for sessions at Fluminense, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Adam Lallana are in Miami, and Fabinho and Roberto Firmino headed to the Maldives.
But for Salah, the winter break has been a “holiday I didn’t go on,” with the No. 11 taking to Instagram on Thursday to share a photo from the gym at Melwood:
The 27-year-old’s commitment and professionalism has aided another exceptional season so far, with Salah scoring 18 goals and assisting another nine in 33 games.
He has either scored or assisted in 19 of those appearances, while he has contributed to more than one goal in eight games.
Salah struck twice in the win over Southampton last time out, and is now three ahead of Mane (15) as Liverpool’s top scorer, and has at least eight more than any other player.
Now, only Sergio Aguero (16) and Jamie Vardy (17) have scored more in the Premier League this season, with Salah’s brace at Anfield bringing him level with Marcus Rashford, Danny Ings and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on 14.
Last season saw him earn a second consecutive Golden Boot award, shared with Mane and Aubameyang, and he is now producing a convincing claim to win a third in a row.
Only Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry have done so before in the history of the Premier League, with Henry the last to achieve the feat in 2006.
Of course, individual accolades will not be Salah’s focus at this stage, and it is encouraging to see the Egyptian retain his focus as Liverpool head towards their first league title in 30 years.
[/article]
[article]
Mohamed Salah returns to Melwood early after “holiday I didn’t go on”
Jack Lusby
7 February 2020
Mohamed Salah revealed he has stayed on Merseyside during Liverpool’s winter break, training at Melwood ahead of a return to action at Norwich.
The Reds’ first-team squad were given a week off following the 4-0 win over Southampton on February 1, before reporting back to prepare for the trip to Carrow Road.
Meanwhile, Neil Critchley led the club’s youngest-ever side to a 1-0 victory over Shrewsbury in the FA Cup, with James Milner sat behind the bench in a show of support.
Milner has since departed on a brief holiday, as has Sadio Mane after the pair underwent further rehabilitation for hamstring injuries at Melwood.
Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have all trained together in Dubai, Alisson joined his brother for sessions at Fluminense, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Adam Lallana are in Miami, and Fabinho and Roberto Firmino headed to the Maldives.
But for Salah, the winter break has been a “holiday I didn’t go on,” with the No. 11 taking to Instagram on Thursday to share a photo from the gym at Melwood:
The 27-year-old’s commitment and professionalism has aided another exceptional season so far, with Salah scoring 18 goals and assisting another nine in 33 games.
He has either scored or assisted in 19 of those appearances, while he has contributed to more than one goal in eight games.
Salah struck twice in the win over Southampton last time out, and is now three ahead of Mane (15) as Liverpool’s top scorer, and has at least eight more than any other player.
Now, only Sergio Aguero (16) and Jamie Vardy (17) have scored more in the Premier League this season, with Salah’s brace at Anfield bringing him level with Marcus Rashford, Danny Ings and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on 14.
Last season saw him earn a second consecutive Golden Boot award, shared with Mane and Aubameyang, and he is now producing a convincing claim to win a third in a row.
Only Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry have done so before in the history of the Premier League, with Henry the last to achieve the feat in 2006.
Of course, individual accolades will not be Salah’s focus at this stage, and it is encouraging to see the Egyptian retain his focus as Liverpool head towards their first league title in 30 years.
[/article]
That’s extremely misleading. He didn’t go on holiday because his wife gave birth.
I’d be dead had i fucked off with the lads when she was spitting mine out.
[article]
Egypt U-23 head coach Shawky Gharib has confirmed his intention to call up Mohamed Salah to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Gharib has been on the lookout for players in the senior team as he prepares his side for the Olympics in the summer.
The guidelines state that the national team can have up to three players who are over the age of 23 in the squad.
Speaking to ON Sport, Gharib revealed that Salah will be called up to Egypt’s U-23 squad but says he still hasn’t contacted the Liverpool winger regarding the matter.
“Out of the three senior players we’ll call-up, Salah is the only one we’re settled on so far because he’s simply one of the top three players in the world,” Gharib said.
“I haven’t talked to Salah at all about him joining the U-23 squad for the Olympics, but in all honesty, his participation in the Olympics will need a little effort from him as well.”
Egypt are set to play eight friendly matches during March and another eight during June before playing four games after the Egyptian Premier League season is over as the Olympics begin on 22 July.
[/article]
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Surprised this article hasn't been posted here yet, given how tackles the topic of this thread head-on (with the use of some stats).
UPD: I was actually not familiar with xG chain stat – basically it measures a player's involvement in attacking combinations resulting in a shot (the better-placed/more dangerous shots earn higher xG rating for everyone involved in the build-up). So looking at the 3rd picture from the top, the one that compares Mo's stats across his 2 seasons in Roma and 2 and a half at Liverpool, translated to plain English it means that this season he is roughly as involved in our attacking combinations as he was in his first season here and the last season at Roma. Which supports the thesis that last season was a dip in form and this season his performance has been a lot better, even though it's not reflected by the goal stats.
=========
Mohamed Salah was nearly derailed at Liverpool, but changed game to get back on track
Mohamed Salah went through a genuine dip in form for Liverpool: what happened, and how has he bounced back?
by Stephen Drennan
The winter transfer window hasn’t closed longer than five minutes before thoughts immediately shift to it opening again in the summer. In the case of Liverpool, this has resulted in talk of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Jadon Sancho and even Kylian Mbappé. Of course, with Jurgen Klopp’s forward line well established at this point, talk soon leads to discussions of which of Liverpool’s attacking trident is sacrificed in order to fit in a shiny new toy.
Is it the player Pep Lijnders previously said best represent our way? The player Klopp said, unlike the other two, was “world-class, pretty much every day”? That man is, of course, Roberto Firmino. Based on how crucial those in charge of the playing staff believe he is, it seems unlikely he will be the one shelved for a new attacking option.
Attention turns then to Sadio Mané, the player who has evolved into a world-class attacking talent under Klopp’s tutelage; the newly crowned African Player of the Year, who many had tipped to win the Ballon d’Or recently. He is another player that seems adored by those at the club and whose quality has Zinedine Zidane earmarking him as the man to breathe new life into a fading Real Madrid side.
So, if it’s not Firmino or Mané, it must be Mohamed Salah then Both Charlie Adams and Darren Bent have spent the mid-season break talking up the idea of him being disposable. Fifteen minutes on football Twitter searching his name will lead you to the words ‘selfish’, ‘over-rated’ and ‘inconsistent’ often uttered in relation to the Egyptian international. One particular Everton fan described Salah as a Sunday League player but with pace.
Let’s be very clear about who is being criticised here: Mohamed Salah has been the most effective player in the Premier League since his arrival at Liverpool in the summer of 2017. In terms of end product, no player comes close to him over the last two and a half seasons. He has performed at 23% above the nearest player on the list (Sergio Aguero). In fact, he has just 20 goals and assists fewer than both Mané and Firmino combined. This isn’t to say Salah is better than either Firmino or Mané. There is more to the game of football than goals and assists. Trying to make such declarations based on two data points feels a little reductive. However, at the absolute minimum, it should have earned him much more respect than he seems to be afforded in the press and even from some factions of the Liverpool fanbase.
We also have the problem of expectation bias influencing how people perceive a player’s performances. It’s perfectly reasonable to suggest Salah isn’t performing at the levels we saw during his debut campaign for Liverpool. As you can see above, in terms of his shooting metrics, he was incredible that campaign notching a non-penalty goal almost every single game on average. However, it is clear from the data above that he is performing at or above the level he was last season for the Reds, a season in which he won his second consecutive Golden Boot award for his 22 goals, while also finishing the season with eight assists; this was behind only full-back pair of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson at Liverpool.
Does expectation bias mean all players are not measured equally for their achievements this season? There have been numerous polls on Twitter his week revolving around who Liverpool’s player of the season should be. The likes of Firmino, Mané, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson have all appeared on one poll or another. Salah’s name is conspicuous by its absence though. Taking it a step further, his name isn’t being mentioned in the same breath as the Premier League’s Player of the Year award. In fact, we saw Marcus Rashford being placed in combined XI’s ahead of Salah before the recent clash between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Yet despite having his best ever season in the Premier League, Rashford is still some distance behind the Egyptian international across the board in attacking metrics. The reason is simply that Rashford is having an outstanding season in comparison to his personal best previous season, while Salah is performing below what he did during 2017/18. The expectation on the two players is different and therefore the narrative surrounding their performances is different, despite the fact that Salah has performed at a level measurably above the young English forward this season.
That is before we even touch on the extenuating circumstances surrounding Salah’s performances this season. After being scythed down by Hamza Choudhury in the closing moments of Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Leicester in October, Mohamed Salah suffered a sprained ankle. Klopp was clearly furious with this tackle, and rightly so.
As we can see above, the tackle effectively wrote off ten weeks of Salah’s season. During that time, he featured in only four of Liverpool’s seven league games, missing the matches against Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Everton.
When he was involved, he looked a shadow of the player the Kop has crowned as the ‘Egyptian King’. He was averaging an Open Play (OP) Expected Goal Involvement of just 0.32 per match (or once every three games). To put that into perspective, Christian Benteke averaged 0.32 per match in 2015/16 for Liverpool. Fans were expecting Liverpool’s most productive ever forward and were instead managing with a diminutive, curly-haired Benteke.
Contrast that now with Salah’s performance since the 0-3 win at Bournemouth. Salah has averaged 1.08 per match in Open Play (OP) Expected Goal Involvement, a 338% improvement on his mini-Benteke form while playing through the pain barrier. Note that, during his first season at Liverpool in 2017/18, Salah averaged 0.84 per match in this metric.
This brings us to one final question: can Salah attain those dizzying heights of 2017/18 once more? Maybe. Referring back to the above graphic detailing his last five seasons of football, we can see his shot count is rising once again towards the 4.36 per 90 he had in 2017/18. The ratio of shots he gets on target looks fairly consistent throughout his career. However, the 45%+ conversion rate of those shots on target that he maintained throughout his time at Roma and in his first season at Liverpool has dipped down to ~32% in each of his last two seasons with the Reds.
However, it seems the club are already taking steps to make Salah more efficient in front of goal. As you can see above in these density plots, there is a high concentration of shots during his time at Roma on the left side of the penalty area. As a left-footed player starting on the right wing, it is natural to see him come inside onto his stronger foot and shoot from these positions.
Looking now at the left image above for his 2018/19 season, he is having more shots in central zones than during his time at Roma. However, he having a large concentration of shots on the right of the box from ~20 yards from goal. This largely explains his shooting inefficiency last season, with only one of his shots from outside the box resulting in a goal, although that goal was the memorable game-clinching screamer against Chelsea.
This season’s shot density map (right image) for Salah is interesting. He has continued his evolution and now is taking as many if not more shots from the prime real estate centrally in front of goal. Salah has also cut down on the shots from outside the box with the few is taking now being much more central and closer to the goal. We are yet to see this improvement of his process reflected in his output. However, it seems reasonable to expect a player taking more shots in better shot locations and fewer from poor shot locations to see an improvement in the future in terms of goals scored.
This should put Salah in a good position to claim his third consecutive Golden Boot Award; a feat only achieved twice thus far in the Premier League era by Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry.
UPD: I was actually not familiar with xG chain stat – basically it measures a player's involvement in attacking combinations resulting in a shot (the better-placed/more dangerous shots earn higher xG rating for everyone involved in the build-up). So looking at the 3rd picture from the top, the one that compares Mo's stats across his 2 seasons in Roma and 2 and a half at Liverpool, translated to plain English it means that this season he is roughly as involved in our attacking combinations as he was in his first season here and the last season at Roma. Which supports the thesis that last season was a dip in form and this season his performance has been a lot better, even though it's not reflected by the goal stats.
=========
Mohamed Salah was nearly derailed at Liverpool, but changed game to get back on track
Mohamed Salah went through a genuine dip in form for Liverpool: what happened, and how has he bounced back?
by Stephen Drennan
The winter transfer window hasn’t closed longer than five minutes before thoughts immediately shift to it opening again in the summer. In the case of Liverpool, this has resulted in talk of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Jadon Sancho and even Kylian Mbappé. Of course, with Jurgen Klopp’s forward line well established at this point, talk soon leads to discussions of which of Liverpool’s attacking trident is sacrificed in order to fit in a shiny new toy.
Is it the player Pep Lijnders previously said best represent our way? The player Klopp said, unlike the other two, was “world-class, pretty much every day”? That man is, of course, Roberto Firmino. Based on how crucial those in charge of the playing staff believe he is, it seems unlikely he will be the one shelved for a new attacking option.
Attention turns then to Sadio Mané, the player who has evolved into a world-class attacking talent under Klopp’s tutelage; the newly crowned African Player of the Year, who many had tipped to win the Ballon d’Or recently. He is another player that seems adored by those at the club and whose quality has Zinedine Zidane earmarking him as the man to breathe new life into a fading Real Madrid side.
So, if it’s not Firmino or Mané, it must be Mohamed Salah then Both Charlie Adams and Darren Bent have spent the mid-season break talking up the idea of him being disposable. Fifteen minutes on football Twitter searching his name will lead you to the words ‘selfish’, ‘over-rated’ and ‘inconsistent’ often uttered in relation to the Egyptian international. One particular Everton fan described Salah as a Sunday League player but with pace.
Let’s be very clear about who is being criticised here: Mohamed Salah has been the most effective player in the Premier League since his arrival at Liverpool in the summer of 2017. In terms of end product, no player comes close to him over the last two and a half seasons. He has performed at 23% above the nearest player on the list (Sergio Aguero). In fact, he has just 20 goals and assists fewer than both Mané and Firmino combined. This isn’t to say Salah is better than either Firmino or Mané. There is more to the game of football than goals and assists. Trying to make such declarations based on two data points feels a little reductive. However, at the absolute minimum, it should have earned him much more respect than he seems to be afforded in the press and even from some factions of the Liverpool fanbase.
We also have the problem of expectation bias influencing how people perceive a player’s performances. It’s perfectly reasonable to suggest Salah isn’t performing at the levels we saw during his debut campaign for Liverpool. As you can see above, in terms of his shooting metrics, he was incredible that campaign notching a non-penalty goal almost every single game on average. However, it is clear from the data above that he is performing at or above the level he was last season for the Reds, a season in which he won his second consecutive Golden Boot award for his 22 goals, while also finishing the season with eight assists; this was behind only full-back pair of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson at Liverpool.
Does expectation bias mean all players are not measured equally for their achievements this season? There have been numerous polls on Twitter his week revolving around who Liverpool’s player of the season should be. The likes of Firmino, Mané, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson have all appeared on one poll or another. Salah’s name is conspicuous by its absence though. Taking it a step further, his name isn’t being mentioned in the same breath as the Premier League’s Player of the Year award. In fact, we saw Marcus Rashford being placed in combined XI’s ahead of Salah before the recent clash between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Yet despite having his best ever season in the Premier League, Rashford is still some distance behind the Egyptian international across the board in attacking metrics. The reason is simply that Rashford is having an outstanding season in comparison to his personal best previous season, while Salah is performing below what he did during 2017/18. The expectation on the two players is different and therefore the narrative surrounding their performances is different, despite the fact that Salah has performed at a level measurably above the young English forward this season.
That is before we even touch on the extenuating circumstances surrounding Salah’s performances this season. After being scythed down by Hamza Choudhury in the closing moments of Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Leicester in October, Mohamed Salah suffered a sprained ankle. Klopp was clearly furious with this tackle, and rightly so.
As we can see above, the tackle effectively wrote off ten weeks of Salah’s season. During that time, he featured in only four of Liverpool’s seven league games, missing the matches against Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Everton.
When he was involved, he looked a shadow of the player the Kop has crowned as the ‘Egyptian King’. He was averaging an Open Play (OP) Expected Goal Involvement of just 0.32 per match (or once every three games). To put that into perspective, Christian Benteke averaged 0.32 per match in 2015/16 for Liverpool. Fans were expecting Liverpool’s most productive ever forward and were instead managing with a diminutive, curly-haired Benteke.
Contrast that now with Salah’s performance since the 0-3 win at Bournemouth. Salah has averaged 1.08 per match in Open Play (OP) Expected Goal Involvement, a 338% improvement on his mini-Benteke form while playing through the pain barrier. Note that, during his first season at Liverpool in 2017/18, Salah averaged 0.84 per match in this metric.
This brings us to one final question: can Salah attain those dizzying heights of 2017/18 once more? Maybe. Referring back to the above graphic detailing his last five seasons of football, we can see his shot count is rising once again towards the 4.36 per 90 he had in 2017/18. The ratio of shots he gets on target looks fairly consistent throughout his career. However, the 45%+ conversion rate of those shots on target that he maintained throughout his time at Roma and in his first season at Liverpool has dipped down to ~32% in each of his last two seasons with the Reds.
However, it seems the club are already taking steps to make Salah more efficient in front of goal. As you can see above in these density plots, there is a high concentration of shots during his time at Roma on the left side of the penalty area. As a left-footed player starting on the right wing, it is natural to see him come inside onto his stronger foot and shoot from these positions.
Looking now at the left image above for his 2018/19 season, he is having more shots in central zones than during his time at Roma. However, he having a large concentration of shots on the right of the box from ~20 yards from goal. This largely explains his shooting inefficiency last season, with only one of his shots from outside the box resulting in a goal, although that goal was the memorable game-clinching screamer against Chelsea.
This season’s shot density map (right image) for Salah is interesting. He has continued his evolution and now is taking as many if not more shots from the prime real estate centrally in front of goal. Salah has also cut down on the shots from outside the box with the few is taking now being much more central and closer to the goal. We are yet to see this improvement of his process reflected in his output. However, it seems reasonable to expect a player taking more shots in better shot locations and fewer from poor shot locations to see an improvement in the future in terms of goals scored.
This should put Salah in a good position to claim his third consecutive Golden Boot Award; a feat only achieved twice thus far in the Premier League era by Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry.
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Minamino might play for Japan too.
God almighty. Anyone who doesn't rate Salah as one of our best players, and most exciting to ever play for us, is a fucking retard.
Was watching some goals from last year - and he took his shirt off when he scored against Soton late in the season.
That's my cousin's words, like I said.
Salah has definitely change
Duck I quiffed
It's as though I'm being admonished by carragher. Well tv carragher anyway. I'm not crying or anything.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCon...tudy-possibility-of-Salah-participating-.aspx
[article]Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has requested from Egypt's U-23 national team a comprehensive file on the team's programme that he can study before deciding on whether to let Mohamed Salah participate in the Olympics.
"I hope Salah will join us, as do all the players, since he is a big star in the world of football and will be an addition to the team, especially since we aspire to win an Olympic medal," national team coach Shawky Gharib told On Time Sports TV channel.
Salah was one of Liverpool's key players who helped the team to achieve the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup last season, and plays a big role in the team's current mission to win the Premier League after nearly 30 years of absence.
"We're not the decision makers right now, those are the English club, his coach Klopp, and Salah himself. We have delegated the EFA chairman to talk with the player," Gharib added.
The U-23 Africa Cup of Nations winner Gharib revealed that he will include 50 players in the initial squad list, with 12 over-aged players on 20 May, and the final squad list will be sent on 1 July.
Olympics regulations for football tournaments state that each team is allowed to include three over-age players, while the rest of the players must be under 23 years old.[/article]
[article]Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has requested from Egypt's U-23 national team a comprehensive file on the team's programme that he can study before deciding on whether to let Mohamed Salah participate in the Olympics.
"I hope Salah will join us, as do all the players, since he is a big star in the world of football and will be an addition to the team, especially since we aspire to win an Olympic medal," national team coach Shawky Gharib told On Time Sports TV channel.
Salah was one of Liverpool's key players who helped the team to achieve the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup last season, and plays a big role in the team's current mission to win the Premier League after nearly 30 years of absence.
"We're not the decision makers right now, those are the English club, his coach Klopp, and Salah himself. We have delegated the EFA chairman to talk with the player," Gharib added.
The U-23 Africa Cup of Nations winner Gharib revealed that he will include 50 players in the initial squad list, with 12 over-aged players on 20 May, and the final squad list will be sent on 1 July.
Olympics regulations for football tournaments state that each team is allowed to include three over-age players, while the rest of the players must be under 23 years old.[/article]
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