Mohamed Salah

[TheHowieLama]

His best bit so far has been 3 golas in 8 minutes at Rangers - and the penalty v Rangers at Anfield.

[Code]

5 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

You can’t seriously argue Mo has been the player this season he has been in previous years.

 

It’s not just Mo though, lots of players who have had big pay rises aren’t at the level of before. 

Im saying he isnt the problem, he has scored 17 goals for us this season, 17 goals from a winger halfway through the season is now a problem.

 

When it comes to goals scored, this is our main problem.

 

Almost zero input from our midfielders and defenders. 
 

Salah could and should have scored more, its got fuck all to do with his contract or money though, thats just a desperate argument. 
 

Salah struggle because he’s not involved enough in the right positions, and because he does not get the ball quick enough when the opposition can be caught off balance. 

 

 

[Scott_M]

1 minute ago, Code said:

Im saying he isnt the problem, he has scored 17 goals for us this season, 17 goals from a winger halfway through the season is now a problem.

 

When it comes to goals scored, this is our main problem.

 

Almost zero input from our midfielders and defenders. 
 

Salah could and should have scored more, its got fuck all to do with his contract or money though, thats just a desperate argument. 
 

Salah struggle because he’s not involved enough in the right positions, and because he does not get the ball quick enough when the opposition can be caught off balance. 

 

 

I don’t disagree with the initial point, I don’t think Mo’s performances have been close to what he was offering pre-AFCON. 
 

I fully appreciate the team as a whole have been poor, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for supporters to ask more of the senior players who have been getting paid significantly more this year. 

[No2]

He's not even getting dragged back and wrestled by defenders anymore.

[Mark M]

Goals have dried up for him & he’s offering fuck all else.

He’s not causing teams like Brentford / Brighton any problems being easy to mark and his first touch has gone to shit.

[an tha]

2 hours ago, No2 said:

He's not even getting dragged back and wrestled by defenders anymore.

He'd need to be found in space/goal side of defenders for that to happen - due to how slowly we build up and how rarely we get ball to him early or on break and stretch teams now he hardly ever is.

[TheHowieLama]

9 minutes ago, an tha said:

He'd need to be found in space/goal side of defenders for that to happen - due to how slowly we build up and how rarely we get ball to him early or on break and stretch teams now he hardly ever is.

Nunez did that the minute he came on. Gakpo had a half dozen chances today - Salah had a single shot - none on goal.

That is the biggest concern - he is not creating much less finding chances, and no matter how many times anyone says it he is not being marked out of games by two/three players. There is no need to do that anymore. 

[coachpotato]

When you’re suffering a loss of form as a team, the senior pro’s are the ones that are generally looked at to set examples and make a difference, to produce something that’ll make a difference, that’ll maybe grab a win when it’s not deserved or a draw when a loss is likely.

Mo is one of the players but he hasn’t really been at it since Mane left in my opinion.

It isn’t the done thing to criticise Mo in some quarters, and given his goal scoring record, that’s easy to understand, but when the going is tough is when you want to see the bit of brilliance from your best players, and we haven’t had that privilege too many times this season unfortunately.

 

 

[an tha]

1 minute ago, TheHowieLama said:

Nunez did that the minute he came on. Gakpo had a half dozen chances today - Salah had a single shot - none on goal.

That is the biggest concern - he is not creating much less finding chances, and no matter how many times anyone says it he is not being marked out of games by two/three players. There is no need to do that anymore.

Our left side is generally functioning a little better than the right....neither are great but we seem to move ball a bit better down left and create a bit more space.

 

I am not saying Salah is blameless but a lot of his problems at present are down to us being a broken team.

 

The things he feeds off and has fed off are just not happening often enough or with enough quality.

[gkmacca]

When you're struggling as a team to score goals - actually, all of the time, but especially when you're struggling - you need to exploit every bit of space. But with Salah on the right side, the right side is largely being surrendered to the opposition back four. For 90+ minutes. It's like fighting with one hand tied against your back.

 

We only threaten the goal from midway towards the left of their goal. So when a team defends doggedly in the area, any attacking team will struggle, but we struggle more than most because there's hardly any danger from our right (especially now that the other option, Trent, takes to blasting balls wide).

 

It obviously sounds churlish to criticise a player with Salah's record, but it's become like the emperor's new clothes. The opposition has never had a clearer idea how to defend against a top striker - you block the space to his left.

 

Ged happily got Kewell to play a similar role, although he crossed more and shot less, but even Kewell could sometimes hit the ball with his weaker foot. When a striker just will not have a serious shot with his weaker foot, he's got  to keep performing miracles to keep up a high scoring rate.

 

It would just be so refreshing to see a player go down the right and not have a clear idea what he'll do once he gets into the area. With Mo these days - I'm tempted to say 'years' - unless it's a rapid counterattack I look at him and feel we've lost the attacking chance. Cut inside, try to find a space, pass/fall over/get tackled. For a top side you just cannot indulge that degree of predictability.

[Barrington Womble]

9 hours ago, gkmacca said:

When you're struggling as a team to score goals - actually, all of the time, but especially when you're struggling - you need to exploit every bit of space. But with Salah on the right side, the right side is largely being surrendered to the opposition back four. For 90+ minutes. It's like fighting with one hand tied against your back.

 

We only threaten the goal from midway towards the left of their goal. So when a team defends doggedly in the area, any attacking team will struggle, but we struggle more than most because there's hardly any danger from our right (especially now that the other option, Trent, takes to blasting balls wide).

 

It obviously sounds churlish to criticise a player with Salah's record, but it's become like the emperor's new clothes. The opposition has never had a clearer idea how to defend against a top striker - you block the space to his left.

 

Ged happily got Kewell to play a similar role, although he crossed more and shot less, but even Kewell could sometimes hit the ball with his weaker foot. When a striker just will not have a serious shot with his weaker foot, he's got  to keep performing miracles to keep up a high scoring rate.

 

It would just be so refreshing to see a player go down the right and not have a clear idea what he'll do once he gets into the area. With Mo these days - I'm tempted to say 'years' - unless it's a rapid counterattack I look at him and feel we've lost the attacking chance. Cut inside, try to find a space, pass/fall over/get tackled. For a top side you just cannot indulge that degree of predictability.

Personally I think he's got too isolated on that right hand side. You mention teams just have to block up that side of the pitch, but if they're doing that, there must be space elsewhere to be exploited and and real problem is we're not doing that. We need other players to be a threat so teams can't triple up on Salah. It become so tough for him, he goes wider and wider to try and generate space, but in doing so, takes himself away from the part of the pitch he's most dangerous. Oh and he's not quite as quick as he once was. 

[TheHowieLama]

If we are going to play the same system we need someone who is a physical match - up and down the left side every week.

 

Salah is doing the same exact thing he has done since he got here - the fact that there is not space in front of him is the issue - it also renders him toothless at this point. Baz is right - he doesn't run past players now.

The option now is to let Nunez find that space behind on the left and get a more physical player on the right and see if Mo can do what Sadio did before he left - transition to playing effectively in the middle.

[Barrington Womble]

2 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

If we are going to play the same system we need someone who is a physical match - up and down the left side every week.

 

Salah is doing the same exact thing he has done since he got here - the fact that there is not space in front of him is the issue - it also renders him toothless at this point. Baz is right - he doesn't run past players now.

The option now is to let Nunez find that space behind on the left and get a more physical player on the right and see if Mo can do what Sadio did before he left - transition to playing effectively in the middle.

I thought Mo might have got a go through the middle while Nunez was out. I guess the issue is we don't seem to have anyone we really want to see on the right. 

[Captain Howdy]

What concerns me is how easily he now loses the ball

[TheHowieLama]

15 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

I thought Mo might have got a go through the middle while Nunez was out. I guess the issue is we don't seem to have anyone we really want to see on the right. 

Alot is made of that and it is down to this slavish idea of inverted wide men. Mane switched over when Salah came. Next season there is no reason Diaz or Jota couldn't play on the right - that would be before trying Elliott or Doak.

If we are talking about the next few weeks go back to letting Nunez and Salah run the channels upfront and get Gakpo or Firmino behind them.

[Jose Jones]

We have completed fucked up our forward line, unfortunately.  It used to fit together beautifully, but now it doesn't at all, and doesn't even fit the 433 that Klopp wants to play.  Combine that with the midfield running out of legs and Trent being so bad at the back that he's getting dropped for Milner, then we are in the shit.

Mo has obviously lost a little bit of pace and won't be getting up and down the wing as much as he gets older, so we should have worked on playing him closer to goal where he is still effective.  Instead he's been wider and further away from goal. 

It's madness gone mad.

Mo, Firmino, Diaz would still be effective, but Bobby is also getting old and injured, and has not been great for a while.  Nunez and Gakpo don't seem to fit in at all with what we should have been looking to do.

[Barrington Womble]

9 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Alot is made of that and it is down to this slavish idea of inverted wide men. Mane switched over when Salah came. Next season there is no reason Diaz or Jota couldn't play on the right - that would be before trying Elliott or Doak.

If we are talking about the next few weeks go back to letting Nunez and Salah run the channels upfront and get Gakpo or Firmino behind them.

I'm not arguing with you about that, in fact I broadly agree. But salah's position on the right almost seems a religious belief. And it wasn't always that way, he's played plenty of time in the past through the middle. 

[VladimirIlyich]

Let's go with that revolutionary idea of a left footer on the left side of the front three and a right footer on the right side? With our current woes we are still asking a lot of our full backs to bomb on and defend effectively also. It might just catch on.

[Mook]

I'm finding it hard to believe he's scored 17 goals this season, were they all against Rangers?

 

He looks a lot slower to me recently, less interested, isolated, unable to beat a man & his shooting is away to fuck. It's a perfect storm & it's come right after the huge pay rise as well, just to rub salt in the wounds. 

 

He has gone through spells like this before but usually they lasted 2 or 3 games & someone else was banging them in.

[gkmacca]

13 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

Personally I think he's got too isolated on that right hand side. You mention teams just have to block up that side of the pitch, but if they're doing that, there must be space elsewhere to be exploited and and real problem is we're not doing that. We need other players to be a threat so teams can't triple up on Salah. It become so tough for him, he goes wider and wider to try and generate space, but in doing so, takes himself away from the part of the pitch he's most dangerous. Oh and he's not quite as quick as he once was. 

 

I don't know about his pace - he's hardly been given many opportunities to use it, but he hasn't been caught when he has used it. But I agree about the need for his movement to be exploited by others. The simplest option would be for him to lay the ball back into the space on the right as he takes the defenders to the left. Harvey or Trent or Doak or anyone else could be ready for that. But Salah just seems to click into robot mode these days and won't consider releasing the ball until he's reached the most congested part of the penalty area. Milner seems to be the only one with the common sense to run into that space.

[Barrington Womble]

1 minute ago, gkmacca said:

 

I don't know about his pace - he's hardly been given many opportunities to use it, but he hasn't been caught when he has used it. But I agree about the need for his movement to be exploited by others. The simplest option would be for him to lay the ball back into the space on the right as he takes the defenders to the left. Harvey or Trent or Doak or anyone else could be ready for that. But Salah just seems to click into robot mode these days and won't consider releasing the ball until he's reached the most congested part of the penalty area. Milner seems to be the only one with the common sense to run into that space.

 I don't think we are getting players around him though. You're right there are loads of times he ploughs inside into congestion, but I think mostly there's not even an easy pass on, or certainly not a progressive one. Our movement has not been what it was. But there was a period before Darwin's latest injury where they were playing closer together and making things happen. 

[Jairzinho]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Let's go with that revolutionary idea of a left footer on the left side of the front three and a right footer on the right side? With our current woes we are still asking a lot of our full backs to bomb on and defend effectively also. It might just catch on.

 

It won't. Wide players have to score goals now.

[an tha]

https://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/liverpool-can-mo-salah-play-with-darwin-nunez-or-is-that-why-he-is-struggling/206866

 

Shit headline and a few other ropey parts aside this isn't a terrible take...

 

Spot on about dysfunctional right side.

[an tha]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64433571.amp

[s(k)aturation]

 

Pre-AFCON, for that first half of the season, he was "the best player in the world".

 

Now he isn't. 

 

That was a very very high benchmark, which probably heavily influenced the pay rise.

 

Now, he's just "good".