Mohamed Salah

[dockers_strike]

I thought Mo looked like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders on Saturday.

[3 Stacks]

He does look very sharp. Cancelo wanted no part of him. 

[El Rojo]

We really need more from him, especially over the next few weeks. Maybe he needs to change his position a bit. Just looks completely isolated out there at the moment. 

[VladimirIlyich]

14 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

We really need more from him, especially over the next few weeks. Maybe he needs to change his position a bit. Just looks completely isolated out there at the moment. 

Without Mane and Salah we are much less of a threat as Diaz is still learning his role,as excellent as he's been,and teams will just try to eliminate Mo.

PS,are those highlights in Mo's hair? If so you can cut that 'Beckhamesque' media attention shit out straight away.

[Barrington Womble]

19 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

We really need more from him, especially over the next few weeks. Maybe he needs to change his position a bit. Just looks completely isolated out there at the moment. 

Until the sending off, I thought he played as wide as he's ever played for us, but this is obvious as Nunez is occupying the space he tries to run into normally. I think he'll be back in his normal slot in the coming weeks, unless of course we need him as a 9 if firmino is out for a while 

[johnsusername]

Really nice finish, Johnny on the spot, great anticipation.

 

He is absolutely wasted on the wing. He needs to be in and around the opposition box. Hoping he'll get the ball 40 yards out, dribble past three defenders and score a worldie is not a tactic. 

 

[johnsusername]

I didn't finish what I was going to say - we don't have anyone to fill in on the right wing for Mo. Literally nobody. 

 

[El Rojo]

3 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

Really nice finish, Johnny on the spot, great anticipation.

 

He is absolutely wasted on the wing. He needs to be in and around the opposition box. Hoping he'll get the ball 40 yards out, dribble past three defenders and score a worldie is not a tactic. 

 

Yeah, I’ve been critical of him because I expect more from him. Tidy finish. Moving him nearer the danger area would do him the world of good. 

[Barrington Womble]

13 hours ago, johnsusername said:

I didn't finish what I was going to say - we don't have anyone to fill in on the right wing for Mo. Literally nobody. 

 

We have on loads of occasions played him narrower and closer to the goal and were able to because firmino didn't occupy the space. While Darwin is out, we should definitely try that again. I don't think it will be so easy when Darwin is playing. 

[TheHowieLama]

7007 Grove Road
Brooksville, FL 34609, USA

 

 

[Reckoner]

He needs to concentrate more on the football side, too many off pitch distractions for me.

First the blonde highlights and now this?

 

[dockers_strike]

Seems like the hack is working again!

 

Liverpool have not exactly been short of problems to solve this season but beyond the issues in midfield, injury concerns and lack of clean sheets, another one stands out: how do they get Mohamed Salah to spend more time in the penalty area?

Although Salah’s goal return is unaffected by Liverpool’s slow start - he has two in the three Premier League fixtures so far - there has been a striking change in how often he is touching the ball in the box.

 

Last season Salah was averaging over 10 touches per game in the opponents' penalty area. Since joining Liverpool, that number has never dropped below eight. Currently, it has fallen to under seven.

 

Naturally, Salah’s shots per game ratio has been affected, currently at 2.5 having peaked at 4.3. Salah is so deadly in front of goal he does not need many chances to find the net, a fact reflected in the fact that even though he has only had four shots on target this season it has not stopped him being his side’s chief goal threat. Again, on average, that is fewer shots on target per game than at any time in his prolific Anfield career. 

So small is the sample size it is too early to say if this is a quirk or the beginning of a worrying trend as Klopp seeks to re-establish the winning formula. Liverpool’s early season difficulties are broadly circumstantial and most likely temporary.

 

It is natural for the forwards to suffer if the midfielders are making fewer incisive passes into the penalty area, while the full-backs who have been Liverpool’s supply chain with their overlapping runs and assists - Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson - are also striving for their best form (and the right service).

 

That will surely return soon rather than later.

 

Combined with Liverpool’s opponents designing perfectly executed game plans to counter their threats, doubling or even trebling marking duties on the wide men or forcing the full-backs to spend more time defending, Klopp’s side has often looked de-weaponised in their opening fixtures.

 

The idea that ‘Liverpool have been worked out’ does not stand up to scrutiny since 95 per cent of sides have adopted the strategy of packing their defence and playing on the counter-attack against Klopp’s side during his tenure but only rarely have they enjoyed the points gleaned by Crystal Palace and Manchester United this term.

 

Nevertheless, as the season progresses, it will be interesting to note if and how Salah’s game evolves and whether his heat map is permanently altered given the change to Liverpool’s forward line.

 

There was anticipation Salah would slightly tweak his game anyway given Darwin Nunez’s arrival, the Uruguayan spending more time in the penalty area than Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mane when he played as a central striker.

 

Given Nunez has only played 105 league minutes - a substitute against Fulham and self-inflicted early departure against Palace - his presence can only partially explain why Salah is spending less time in the box.

 

But there was enough evidence during their period on the pitch together to suggest Salah will be more inclined to play far more as winger than in previous seasons, delivering crosses earlier to a target man. As was the case against Fulham, he is also likely to be the beneficiary should Nunez cause mayhem in the final third.

 

On the left, Luis Diaz is far more of a winger with different characteristics to the man he effectively replaced, Mane, who like Salah was more of a wide striker who drifted infield.

 

Klopp headed into this season anticipating minor adjustments would improve upon the solid foundations which made last year so spectacular. Unfortunately for him, that sound base established over four years has been disrupted by injuries, loss of form and, of course, Mane’s sale, which will cast a shadow for as long as Liverpool lack their usual attacking panache.

 

When dips in one area of the pitch materialise (Liverpool’s midfield), every department of the side suffers. The forensic examination will continue until a sense of normality is restored.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/08/26/mo-salah-liverpools-deadliest-striker-why-spending-little-time/

[Barrington Womble]

Salah has clearly been pulling wider and working different areas of the pitch than before. It's obvious he'll have less touches in the box in that situation. 

[an tha]

The last paragraph of that article is the top and bottom of the whole issue.

 

It is all down to the midfield.

 

Salah and Diaz have both been victims of the problems our midfield problems cause.

 

Both have been forced wide and have been receiving ball with back to goal and in little to no space, too often and its the midfields fault.

 

When our midfield was in its pomp or when it is on blob we push the full backs on and went/go long early in the move either to the full backs or Salah and when it was Mane.

 

It worked because our midfield was so good at picking up the second balls so we would look to create broken play and then our midfield would win the ball and launch attacks before the opposition had time to get set.....Salah and Mane and the full backs were hitting space and running at stretched teams.

 

Now we all too often have situations like Monday night when the mancs continually went long even from goal kicks and time after time they won the second balls....because we have lost the athleticism we once had and now don't win as many of those balls....

 

Now what happens more is teams allow us the ball when we have it and allow us to have slow laboured possession....that then forces the likes of Diaz and Salah to stay wide to create width because the full backs don't have the same licence to overlap they once did.

 

We used to have Hendo and Wijnaldum who covered the space when the full backs pushed on.....now Hendo has not got the legs to do it as effectively and Wijnaldum is gone.



When our midfielders were younger/more athletic/when they are on form and when Bobby is they were/are the key to our press - they were/are the triggers, when Bobby pressed the two wide forwards closed down the passing lanes and Hendo and the rest of the midfield gambled and closed down the opposition and we won ball and got at and behind teams feeding Mane and Salah early, quickly and in space.....it simply does not happen as often now.

 

Fix this and we get our forwards into more dangerous positions, more often....and they'll enjoy the rewards that follow.

 

9-0 win today of course being very good start.

[Section_31]

Bad dates.

[Crazy Dave]

6 goals from open play since AFCON. 
 

33 games in that time. 

[TheHowieLama]

2 hours ago, Section_31 said:

Bad dates.

Funky figs.

[Barrington Womble]

27 minutes ago, Crazy Dave said:

6 goals from open play since AFCON. 
 

33 games in that time. 

It's strange. Watching home at the moment is like watching an old school winger. He's out wide, works hard, creates space for others and generally has a decent match. But he's not getting near the goal or looking like the player we know he can be. 

[3 Stacks]

It's because he has to play with a #propernumber9 now. 

[KMD7]

5 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

It's because he has to play with a #propernumber9 now. 

He was like that for the last few months of last season as well though 

[3 Stacks]

1 minute ago, KMD7 said:

He was like that for the last few months of last season as well though 

He was simply dogshit at the end of last season. This season, he's barely getting shots at goal, but he's creating some chances for others. It's not the same.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Dont know what we are trying to achieve with our play. He goes out wide then has both Elliot and Trent inside of him. We look completely fucked up, is this some new out of the box type thinking because we look like the biggest hindrance too ourselves. We not creating any types of opening just filling every space with more bodies than needed. Our fullbacks need  to go back to basics, overlap when its on if not stay the fuck back. Why have Robertson, Diaz, carvalho, Nunez, Elliot, Trent and Salah all squashed right up. We play it wide, we play it back rinse and repeat until we miss pass the ball and are completely exposed to the break. It's irritating now. Whatever the big idea is it doesn't work with what we have. We need Thiago back pronto but he can only be relied upon for short periods.

[Jairzinho]

He doesn't look like a very good footballer at the moment. 

[Jennings]

Salah is not a problem. Just watch him you can still see he is class.

 

He'll come good. Maybe not to his own previous high standards....but good enough. 

 

Enjoy him while you can.

[Section_31]

Just seems to wide all the time.