• You may have to login or register before you can post and view our exclusive members only forums.
    To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Salah

Status
Not open for further replies.

mark1975

Moderator
Moderator
In a side that's difficult to pick holes in and one that's riding high atop of the Premiership, European Champions and potential World Champions, it'd be foolish to not look ahead to the coming seasons and where we need to continue to grow.

I'll very much enjoy the now, but it's also worth assessing the career curves of our existing players and where they are headed for.

Salah statistically still rides high for us and will inevitably have a purple patch of form again, without a shadow of a doubt. It's one of the reasons our front three are so formidable, because as one's goal-scoring drops, another's comes to the fore, and so on.

But there's this niggling feeling that something just isn't right with Salah. His form has been increasingly erratic, he's always a threat even when not scoring, for his skill and directness, but he's also showing frustrating tendencies to lack awareness of teammates and generally not have that final product that was so devastating not so long ago. Against City it looked like he'd found that sharpness again, only to suffer a setback, but his form generally across the season so far (and arguably parts of last) has been fluctuating between glimpses of brilliance and moments of head-scratching mediocrity.

It's rare that top players tail off quickly, so I'm hoping it's more a case of "form is temporary", but I can't help but see something slightly reminiscent of Torres with Salah - a player that literally exploded into World Class form, then quickly faded into a shadow of himself.

Where do people see him heading longterm? I don't think it's much of a secret that he would like to test himself in Spain eventually, but in terms of form, is his form enough to carry us over the next few years? Will he come into top form again? Will he decline quickly? Are we just seeing the nature of football, whereby (as aforementioned) our attackers carry each other at times throughout the season, while those moments of actual top, top quality only happen when all three or so hit form at the right time?

It was mentioned in another thread about title winners smashing teams for 8-10 games a season and the rest of it consisting of just grinding out results and doing the hardwork tactically to overcome teams, when you're not quite all 100%. Is that all it is with the likes of Salah?
 
I have a feeling he won’t be here in 18 months time. He’ll be the first of the front 3 to leave.
 
I think his drop in performances is partly due to him playing a lot of football, don't forget that he played in the African cup of Nations this summer. It's also due to defenders marking him more closely.
Yeah I also have a feeling that he'll leave.
 
Have you guys seen the latest club video with him and Lovren ? They're like brothers both of them.

I reckon once his bff is gone, Salah will go too.
 
He seems extremely happy with the club, his friends and especially living in Liverpool. In his videos he clearly loves it here and loves playing for us. I don't see him as a player that it would be easy to tempt away, even more so whilst Klopp is still here. He seems very content.
 
Oxo started at the weekend and wasn't great on the wing. Origi has started a few times in his position and has been mostly rubbish (with the odd important goal thrown in). We have to cling on to him until we get at least one decent replacement. Same goes for Mane and Firmino as our squad is threadbare.
 
But there's this niggling feeling that something just isn't right with Salah. His form has been increasingly erratic, he's always a threat even when not scoring, for his skill and directness, but he's also showing frustrating tendencies to lack awareness of teammates and generally not have that final product that was so devastating not so long ago. Against City it looked like he'd found that sharpness again, only to suffer a setback, but his form generally across the season so far (and arguably parts of last) has been fluctuating between glimpses of brilliance and moments of head-scratching mediocrity.

It's rare that top players tail off quickly, so I'm hoping it's more a case of "form is temporary", but I can't help but see something slightly reminiscent of Torres with Salah - a player that literally exploded into World Class form, then quickly faded into a shadow of himself.

Perhaps playing through the pain barrier of a pretty serious ankle injury has something to do with it? I actually have even more respect for Mo now - he’s clearly doing everything humanly possible to be available for every game and to be a positive influence on the team despite being not at 100%. He even started being less selfish in recent games. In short, he’s nothing like Torres - his attitude is absolutely brilliant and far from sulking or moaning he sacrifices his body for the team.
 
Last edited:
I don't think he looks as happy as others on the pitch, but I don't think you can read too much into that. Right now I think he's at the best club for him and we've taken his game to the next level. If he does want to go then replacing his output will be fraught with danger. If we are making a move for Sancho this summer then I suspect we're anticipating Salah's transfer down the line.
 
After the bust-up with Mane, my view was he was trying to pass more and be less selfish in front of goal.
Even though he has an injured ankle he still made the bench for the CP game and was desperate to play.
 
I can't help wondering whether some of this arises from his impossibly stellar first season and the "second season syndrome" which was almost bound to follow.

Don't really have a scooby about the medium-to-long term prospects of keeping him, but I'm not going to worry about that. For the MOment ;) he's ours, he loves it here, he's loved in his turn and I for one am just going to enjoy it all.
 
Perhaps playing through the pain barrier of a pretty serious ankle injury has something to do with it? I actually have even more respect for Mo now - he’s clearly doing everything humanly possible to be available for every game and to be a positive influence on the team despite being not at 100%. He even started being less selfish in recent games. In short, he’s nothing like Torres - his attitude is absolutely brilliant and far from sulking or moaning he sacrifices his body for the team.

That's not really what I meant and I'm not sure why you've dived into the attitude aspect, I didn't mention his attitude in my post.

My point was that his form has wavered over the last season and a bit, he hasn't had an ankle injury throughout all of that, not that I don't consider that a factor in his dip in form either, but I still feel there's something going on beyond that slightly.
 
The first season was the season in which something was going on in.

He was having the most shots per game of his career, the highest quality opportunities and converting them at a rate well above his career norms.

All of those were going to be difficult to sustain.
Add in his first significant mid season injury and his present situation is entirely understandable.

I'd still back him to reach 20 goals if he's over the injury in the next few weeks. Expecting anything like his first season is pie in the sky stuff
 
That's not really what I meant and I'm not sure why you've dived into the attitude aspect, I didn't mention his attitude in my post.

My point was that his form has wavered over the last season and a bit, he hasn't had an ankle injury throughout all of that, not that I don't consider that a factor in his dip in form either, but I still feel there's something going on beyond that slightly.
I think he has been marginally injured pretty much the whole season. He was playing with strapping around one of his ankles for much of the run in last season, and it emerged that he played much of last season through the pain barrier. He literally had a couple of weeks off and has went into a gruelling season, and picked up another injury, but I do wonder if the knock aggravated that pre-existing condition. I don't think we've seen a fully, fully fit and firing Salah for about 12 months.
 
I think us Liverpool fans are permanently paranoid about our star players wanting to leave for Real and Barca. That's understandable given just how many of our players have made that move, but there's some context to that. Most of them moved simply because the prospect of trophies or money at those clubs was far greater.

That isn't the case anymore, and we're genuinely one of the most desirable clubs in the world at the moment. Am really not concerned about Salah or any of our players wanting to leave at this moment - in any event, I'm confident if that happens under Klopp, it'll at least be on our terms.

As for Salah's form, again I'm not overly concerned. He's obviously been playing through an injury, and that's affecting him. I wonder though what long-term correction that ankle needs, and I hope it doesn't break down in any major way during this season. As for his attitude, I've never seen any cause for concern - he's one of our more likable players in fact.
 
Although he hasn’t hit the heights of that season, he’s arguably still our best attacking player. I think we’ll replace him with Sancho next summer though.
 
The first season was the season in which something was going on in.

He was having the most shots per game of his career, the highest quality opportunities and converting them at a rate well above his career norms.

All of those were going to be difficult to sustain.
Add in his first significant mid season injury and his present situation is entirely understandable.

I'd still back him to reach 20 goals if he's over the injury in the next few weeks. Expecting anything like his first season is pie in the sky stuff

All of this. Even if he never hits those heights again he's still a very good player who fits our side well. And he'll fetch a fortune if/when he leaves.

But I can't see him hitting 40 or 50 goals in a season again. And that's no disrespect intended.
 
I totally get what @mark1975 was getting at in his post, and honestly it has that smell of Torres about it. This is not having a go at Salah, because I actually think he is exhausted and of course carrying that injury. But unlike Torres, he wants to play and be involved - this idea of him wanting to leave does not make sense and there are no strong rumours of any such move from those "two" cunts abroad. Personally I think Barca maybe traumatised by the Coutinho move.

There are those other reasons of course - he is heavily marked in games, like probably the most closely marked player in the PL, then on the physical side of things because of the injury and the number of games he has played - I think it's a case of thinking he can do the shit and believing he can do as before but to us the observers we don't see that same level of output. To be honest, I sometimes feel since the end of last season, it is almost a surprise when he scores rather than expecting him to score - you get what I mean ?
 
I totally get what @mark1975 was getting at in his post, and honestly it has that smell of Torres about it. This is not having a go at Salah, because I actually think he is exhausted and of course carrying that injury. But unlike Torres, he wants to play and be involved - this idea of him wanting to leave does not make sense and there are no strong rumours of any such move from those "two" cunts abroad. Personally I think Barca maybe traumatised by the Coutinho move.

There are those other reasons of course - he is heavily marked in games, like probably the most closely marked player in the PL, then on the physical side of things because of the injury and the number of games he has played - I think it's a case of thinking he can do the shit and believing he can do as before but to us the observers we don't see that same level of output. To be honest, I sometimes feel since the end of last season, it is almost a surprise when he scores rather than expecting him to score - you get what I mean ?

So we traumatised them and took their money.

And then we suckered them with a 3 nil loss at their stadium(Camp old someone.. was it Barrymore)......
Until they came to Anfield and the Gini appeared.

Corner Origi quickly Taken.........even Liam Neeson was shocked at that response.


Mo even now is a thorn in the paw for teams that we play0
 
I think us Liverpool fans are permanently paranoid about our star players wanting to leave for Real and Barca. That's understandable given just how many of our players have made that move, but there's some context to that. Most of them moved simply because the prospect of trophies or money at those clubs was far greater.

That isn't the case anymore, and we're genuinely one of the most desirable clubs in the world at the moment. Am really not concerned about Salah or any of our players wanting to leave at this moment - in any event, I'm confident if that happens under Klopp, it'll at least be on our terms.

As for Salah's form, again I'm not overly concerned. He's obviously been playing through an injury, and that's affecting him. I wonder though what long-term correction that ankle needs, and I hope it doesn't break down in any major way during this season. As for his attitude, I've never seen any cause for concern - he's one of our more likable players in fact.

Yeah, we’ve deffo never said or thought this before
 
He’s carrying an injury so I don’t anyway can judge him too harshly at the moment. The question is whether he recovers full or is this the start of a succession of niggles. If it is then his best days are behind him for good.

As others have said, win us the league this year and he can go to Madrid no problem.

I would love to see him get to 100 Liverpool goals first though.

Having said that it would be even sweeter to see him here in 4 years time with a few league titles and a couple of CL’s to his name.
 
It is constantly in the back of my mind that Salah will be sold in the summer to bring fresh blood in to the team, Sancho, Havertz, people like that.

I have no real basis for this but it has been there for a while.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom