Salah, the man for the big/all occasions
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Short of an injury, easily
You know Suarez was on like 30 goals with the same amount of games left and he just stopped scoring.
Barney Ronay is musing on Salah....
Mohamed Salah, superhero gerbil who makes fun out of defenders
To err is human, to forgive divine. As a coda to this: to err massively and hilariously is also human, as anyone who writes about sport can confirm. It is a common experience to find oneself wincing a little at the way things turn out in the real world, even when the way things turn out is also a source of pure sporting pleasure.
All of which is a prelude to a mea culpa. Yes: I was a Salah doubter. Or at least a nonplussed observer. My Guardian pre-season Premier League preview from last August contained the following dismissive summary of Jürgen Klopp’s transfer business: “Liverpool have bought a good left-back and spent an awful lot of money on Mohamed Salah.” Let’s just read that back. An awful. Lot of. Money. Mo Salah for £35m. Lol. Laughing weeping face emoji. Do I get paid for this stuff?
But then this is the joy and, indeed, the whole point of watching and playing sport. Whatever you say about it, that’s what it’s not. It thumbs its nose, rips up your preconceptions.
In mitigation those tossed-off thoughts were written just before the four biggest transfers of all time took place, kicked off by the financial inanity of Neymar’s move to Paris Saint-Germain. Shortly afterwards Barcelona paid three times Salah’s fee for Ousmane Dembélé. By the end of the summer £35m was looking, if not small potatoes, then smaller potatoes. Right now it looks like one of the outstanding bargains of the last 10 years.
Mohamed Salah hits awesome four as Liverpool romp past Watford
Read more
But then, even those who knew Salah’s game in intimate detail, who spoke excitedly of his deeds in Serie A, will surely be a bit surprised at the sheer extent of his instant, exhilarating success under Klopp, a thing to be studied and marvelled at on its own terms.
With seven games to go Salah is the player of the season. He has 28 league goals, four more than Harry Kane and seven more than Sergio Agüero, capped by those four against Watford at the weekend. He also has nine assists, surpassed only by Leroy Sané and David Silva. Only Eden Hazard, Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend have made more successful dribbles. Only Kane has had more shots.
A nice touch too: despite playing in a bruising, full-throttle team Salah has yet to be shown any kind of card this season. There is a truism that good footballers need to have something nasty about them. Salah is merciless in many ways. But he kills you with a smile.
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The numbers are, of course, just a part of it. It was not a goal or a man-of-the-match performance that revealed the full dawning Salah-ness of Salah to this observer. It was instead the 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Anfield in October, a game dominated by José Mourinho’s defensive organisation.
Even here Salah just stood out, the only player on the pitch able to turn and surge away through the defensive lines. He made eight dribbles in 73 minutes, more than United’s entire midfield and attack put together. More than this, he seemed a relentlessly optimistic player, football as reinterpreted by a gerbil superhero. Legs whirring, head up, chest out.
Fast forward to Watford at the weekend and Salah has begun to make parts of the game look like a mismatch, the way only the very best can. The hat-trick goal at Anfield will remain one of the images of the season, those three Watford defenders squished together in front of Salah, tottering on their heels as this miracle of balance and speed springs to his left then springs back, leaving the yellow shirts collapsing helplessly like a row of derelict tenement houses. Even the finish is a lovely detail, the ball swished past Oscar Karnezis with an impudent playground shuffle.
At which point two questions occur. How has this happened? And how long can it go on?
The first of these is a legitimate question. In just seven months Salah has scored 36 goals for Liverpool, more than for any other club he has ever played for. It is the nature of it too, those moments of out-there physical creativity, the basic joy in his football that bears passing comparison, even after a single season, to the conjoined Henry-Ronaldo-Suárez-Bergkamp-Agüero attacking godhead of the Premier League years.
Another magical Salah display and Warnock's pub quiz – Football Weekly
With this in mind it has been easy to look at Salah’s time under Mourinho at Chelsea and see a genuine howler, a huge beaming, bouncy Egyptian stick with which to beat the master of toxic defence.
In Mourinho’s defence he did at least see enough to sign Salah in the first place. He was 21. Eden Hazard, Willian and Oscar were ahead of him. He never got a proper run, playing 19 games, starting 10 of them. For those who saw Salah in the flesh at Stamford Bridge the memory lingers of trapped energy, of an eager figure haring off down the right wing while his manager lurked and barked and burped on the touchline, never quite at ease with this scuttling force of attacking will.
It seems what Salah needed was to be driven on, to be given the stage. At Roma Luciano Spalletti famously held up Salah’s contribution in one game as an example of perfect team play. Salah has said Spalletti would often sit with him after training teaching him how to defend, discussing the moral responsibilities of running and working for the team.
If Salah needed the paternal arm from Spalletti, he has clearly found another perfect fit in the speed-metal football of Klopp’s exhilarating front three. It will be fascinating from here to see how he goes about sustaining that pitch of performance.
And this is the next challenge, as even the better teams begin to make detailed plans for a player who must now demand this level of attention. Can Salah continue to produce his extraordinary, uplifting fantasy football? Only a fool – as they have in the past – would bet against him.
Mohamed Salah, superhero gerbil who makes fun out of defenders
To err is human, to forgive divine. As a coda to this: to err massively and hilariously is also human, as anyone who writes about sport can confirm. It is a common experience to find oneself wincing a little at the way things turn out in the real world, even when the way things turn out is also a source of pure sporting pleasure.
All of which is a prelude to a mea culpa. Yes: I was a Salah doubter. Or at least a nonplussed observer. My Guardian pre-season Premier League preview from last August contained the following dismissive summary of Jürgen Klopp’s transfer business: “Liverpool have bought a good left-back and spent an awful lot of money on Mohamed Salah.” Let’s just read that back. An awful. Lot of. Money. Mo Salah for £35m. Lol. Laughing weeping face emoji. Do I get paid for this stuff?
But then this is the joy and, indeed, the whole point of watching and playing sport. Whatever you say about it, that’s what it’s not. It thumbs its nose, rips up your preconceptions.
In mitigation those tossed-off thoughts were written just before the four biggest transfers of all time took place, kicked off by the financial inanity of Neymar’s move to Paris Saint-Germain. Shortly afterwards Barcelona paid three times Salah’s fee for Ousmane Dembélé. By the end of the summer £35m was looking, if not small potatoes, then smaller potatoes. Right now it looks like one of the outstanding bargains of the last 10 years.
Mohamed Salah hits awesome four as Liverpool romp past Watford
Read more
But then, even those who knew Salah’s game in intimate detail, who spoke excitedly of his deeds in Serie A, will surely be a bit surprised at the sheer extent of his instant, exhilarating success under Klopp, a thing to be studied and marvelled at on its own terms.
With seven games to go Salah is the player of the season. He has 28 league goals, four more than Harry Kane and seven more than Sergio Agüero, capped by those four against Watford at the weekend. He also has nine assists, surpassed only by Leroy Sané and David Silva. Only Eden Hazard, Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend have made more successful dribbles. Only Kane has had more shots.
A nice touch too: despite playing in a bruising, full-throttle team Salah has yet to be shown any kind of card this season. There is a truism that good footballers need to have something nasty about them. Salah is merciless in many ways. But he kills you with a smile.
Advertisement
The numbers are, of course, just a part of it. It was not a goal or a man-of-the-match performance that revealed the full dawning Salah-ness of Salah to this observer. It was instead the 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Anfield in October, a game dominated by José Mourinho’s defensive organisation.
Even here Salah just stood out, the only player on the pitch able to turn and surge away through the defensive lines. He made eight dribbles in 73 minutes, more than United’s entire midfield and attack put together. More than this, he seemed a relentlessly optimistic player, football as reinterpreted by a gerbil superhero. Legs whirring, head up, chest out.
Fast forward to Watford at the weekend and Salah has begun to make parts of the game look like a mismatch, the way only the very best can. The hat-trick goal at Anfield will remain one of the images of the season, those three Watford defenders squished together in front of Salah, tottering on their heels as this miracle of balance and speed springs to his left then springs back, leaving the yellow shirts collapsing helplessly like a row of derelict tenement houses. Even the finish is a lovely detail, the ball swished past Oscar Karnezis with an impudent playground shuffle.
At which point two questions occur. How has this happened? And how long can it go on?
The first of these is a legitimate question. In just seven months Salah has scored 36 goals for Liverpool, more than for any other club he has ever played for. It is the nature of it too, those moments of out-there physical creativity, the basic joy in his football that bears passing comparison, even after a single season, to the conjoined Henry-Ronaldo-Suárez-Bergkamp-Agüero attacking godhead of the Premier League years.
Another magical Salah display and Warnock's pub quiz – Football Weekly
With this in mind it has been easy to look at Salah’s time under Mourinho at Chelsea and see a genuine howler, a huge beaming, bouncy Egyptian stick with which to beat the master of toxic defence.
In Mourinho’s defence he did at least see enough to sign Salah in the first place. He was 21. Eden Hazard, Willian and Oscar were ahead of him. He never got a proper run, playing 19 games, starting 10 of them. For those who saw Salah in the flesh at Stamford Bridge the memory lingers of trapped energy, of an eager figure haring off down the right wing while his manager lurked and barked and burped on the touchline, never quite at ease with this scuttling force of attacking will.
It seems what Salah needed was to be driven on, to be given the stage. At Roma Luciano Spalletti famously held up Salah’s contribution in one game as an example of perfect team play. Salah has said Spalletti would often sit with him after training teaching him how to defend, discussing the moral responsibilities of running and working for the team.
If Salah needed the paternal arm from Spalletti, he has clearly found another perfect fit in the speed-metal football of Klopp’s exhilarating front three. It will be fascinating from here to see how he goes about sustaining that pitch of performance.
And this is the next challenge, as even the better teams begin to make detailed plans for a player who must now demand this level of attention. Can Salah continue to produce his extraordinary, uplifting fantasy football? Only a fool – as they have in the past – would bet against him.
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Barring injury it's a foregone conclusion
Yeah but he was a bitey racist so fuck that guy
Superhero rodents are a British staple. Like secret squirrel, Danger Mouse, and er, Roland Rat. It is basically a way of showing affection.
He can do that after he fucks off
I felt exactly the same way about Sturridge in his first 18 months or so. The fact that we had Suarez at the same time... it was all just too good to be true.
Let's hope this turns out differently.
We better not get fucked over by this international break.
This was the only sentence which perturbs me and has now dropped Ronay into the realm of full-on uber cunt
"as even the better teams begin to make detailed plans for a player who must now demand this level of attention"
Meaning we are the better team and are needing to plan on how he continues to improve on his Roma days or meaning that there are better teams than us giving him attention? Even the "better teams" do what? Make plans to buy him? Who are the "even better teams"... that's rather debatable in itself isn't it...
It was bad enough having to suffer mega whingy cunts whinging about VVD's late arrival...
We haven't even had a full season from the lad yet and instantly we are supposed to be fearful of losing him... shut the fuck up...
Chelsea would be less appealing I imagine and they wouldn't have the cash nor the appeal....
City do indeed have the cash but we would be insane to sell him there and their would be FSG out campaigns instantaneously...
Real are noticeably on the wane and he is not a Hispanic player...
Barca are probably better than us but not by that much and again this is not a Spanish speaker we've got...
Who else?? PSG?? yes... they are rich but you would be very hard pushed to suggest that they are a better team in a better league?
Sometimes I reckon these journos get paid on the number of comments they obtain under their articles.
We ain't selling and It doesn't look like we need to by the smile on his face so why the fuck are we even talking about it yet?? SHUT THE FUCK UP.
"as even the better teams begin to make detailed plans for a player who must now demand this level of attention"
Meaning we are the better team and are needing to plan on how he continues to improve on his Roma days or meaning that there are better teams than us giving him attention? Even the "better teams" do what? Make plans to buy him? Who are the "even better teams"... that's rather debatable in itself isn't it...
It was bad enough having to suffer mega whingy cunts whinging about VVD's late arrival...
We haven't even had a full season from the lad yet and instantly we are supposed to be fearful of losing him... shut the fuck up...
Chelsea would be less appealing I imagine and they wouldn't have the cash nor the appeal....
City do indeed have the cash but we would be insane to sell him there and their would be FSG out campaigns instantaneously...
Real are noticeably on the wane and he is not a Hispanic player...
Barca are probably better than us but not by that much and again this is not a Spanish speaker we've got...
Who else?? PSG?? yes... they are rich but you would be very hard pushed to suggest that they are a better team in a better league?
Sometimes I reckon these journos get paid on the number of comments they obtain under their articles.
We ain't selling and It doesn't look like we need to by the smile on his face so why the fuck are we even talking about it yet?? SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Indeed that is another explanation that works but still... being almost deliberately obscure...
Feels weird seeing someone that looks around 40 talking about growing up and watching as a kid an LFC team consisting of Cisse, Gerrard and Garcia.
To me, anyway, it's pretty clear that he means better teams than Watford need to make plans to contain Salah when they come up against him.
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Way off the mark, obviously talking about better sides than Watford needing to nullify him when we play them.
Nothing to do with buying him
He's scored half of his goals in the periods before HT and FT. Interesting.
Does not look like he really followed Liverpool while growing up. More of a Zidane and Totti fan.
Re ‘is Mané playing more central?’ From earlier...
Yes. Klopp’s gone a bit 4-3-1-2 since the start of the United game. (He used to do it with coutinho in the #10 but anyway). Reason being that the midfield triumvirate - especially when he has Milner in there - are a bit flat, unimaginative, and one-dimensional. So Mané in there can link the play a bit better between midfield and attack. Secondly, because taking Mané inside gives Robertson more space to exploit. And thirdly, cos since Coutinho’s departed, Mane’s our next best player at holding the ball in small gaps and dragging centre backs out.
Yes. Klopp’s gone a bit 4-3-1-2 since the start of the United game. (He used to do it with coutinho in the #10 but anyway). Reason being that the midfield triumvirate - especially when he has Milner in there - are a bit flat, unimaginative, and one-dimensional. So Mané in there can link the play a bit better between midfield and attack. Secondly, because taking Mané inside gives Robertson more space to exploit. And thirdly, cos since Coutinho’s departed, Mane’s our next best player at holding the ball in small gaps and dragging centre backs out.
Barcelona, Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid are all interested in signingLiverpool forward Mohamed Salah, 25, for £200m. The Egypt international has scored 28 Premier League goals so far this season. FROM THE SCUM - LINK REMOVED
No doubt this is all BS, but supposing there is some truth to it, would you be inclined to sell him for £200m?
EDITED BY FFF. NO LINKING TO THAT FUCKING RAG.
No doubt this is all BS, but supposing there is some truth to it, would you be inclined to sell him for £200m?
EDITED BY FFF. NO LINKING TO THAT FUCKING RAG.
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Nope
Good teams don't sell their best players, and good players don't go to teams with no ambition
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Quite. We've had this conversation about a million times. We shouldn't have sold Coutinho or those before him, certainly not as easily as we seemed to, if we sell this lad it's another few steps back again. People are talking about Klopp getting close to achieving something, I firmly believe he is, but you don't keep that level of progress by repeatedly selling your best assets.
Or, better still, rebuild the midfield and don't sell Salah!
We say this all the time, however we always sell our best players.
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