Mo Salah 2025/26 Season

[Frogfish ★]

I agree that he has lost some of his pace & skill. But if that is obvious to us, why isn't our 'head coach' adapting a system to play to his strengths? I think we're isolating him even more than we did when he was at his peak.

Because we've been 'adapting to a system to play to his strengths' for years. His strengths are not what they were at all, he's 33, we shouldn't be adapting to him - he should be adapting to the team or getting on his bike. It's partly by catering to him and his weaknesses (lack of helping out the defence) that we are in this mess.

N.B. Did anyone else notice Isak's two defensive clearances (headers) vs. Inter? I know it's a small thing but it all helps the defence. Now go and do it at the other end !

 

[Woland ★]

Well luckily we can apply the Curtis Jones affect and one good game with a goal can put right back to the unstoppable category.

You mean he's suddenly 24 and dead good?

 

[peterhague]

Man management is the difference between finding 5th with a shit, half dead squad, and struggling in 10th after spending half a billion.

And not winning the league and winning it with the same team. Or perhaps his man management was so spectacular it kind of defied all human psychology and only really paid off after he left. yeah probably that.

 

[Brizzle ★]

Because we've been 'adapting to a system to play to his strengths' for years. His strengths are not what they were at all, he's 33, we shouldn't be adapting to him - he should be adapting to the team or getting on his bike. It's partly by catering to him and his weaknesses (lack of helping out the defence) that we are in this mess.

N.B. Did anyone else notice Isak's two defensive clearances (headers) vs. Inter? I know it's a small thing but it all helps the defence. Now go and do it at the other end !

I don't disagree on the first point - but by giving him a 400k a week contract we kinda made that decision. And if we are going to play him, we should be playing in a way that makes him a threat. And if he's a threat, we win more games. Similar for other players - our system doesn't play to the strengths of any of our attackers frankly. Which is why Slot has to go.

 

[peterhague]

@Momo the guy who said last season is done etc was Ronnie Moran I think. That's the Alan Hansen story about him chucking the league medals out one by one and basically saying well done, enjoy your holiday, it'll be even harder next year.

 

[Brizzle ★]

We don’t have the best attacking roster in the league though.

Isak, Mo, Gakpo and Ekitike all want to play in the same areas of the pitch. To fit them in together, they need to compromise their game in some way. And this reduces their effectiveness. That’s been the main issue the whole season

I think we do, and I used the word Roster on purpose as I just mean purely from a number of great players. I don't believe we have the best unit and it certainly doesn't play that way. But who has a better set of 4 - 5 attackers (excluding formation, tactics etc.) than Salah, Isak, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike?

 

[peterhague]

I think we do, and I used the word Roster on purpose as I just mean purely from a number of great players. I don't believe we have the best unit and it certainly doesn't play that way. But who has a better set of 4 - 5 attackers (excluding formation, tactics etc.) than Salah, Isak, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike?

Salah really is on his last legs so straight away that 5 is less impressive than it looks. If you replaced him with someone like Semenyo then yeah it's potentially the best but even then it's reliant on Wirtz and Isak having finally found their feet.

 

[Fabio ★]

I do agree on the first sentence, but I also think a lot of this is tactics and personnel. One big thing that has buggered our RW is that we've played about 7 players at RB as everyone keeps getting injured.

Add to this a completely uninspiring approach when we have the ball, there is nothing being done to get the best out of a player we know is lethal inside the box. He is being limited and isolated on the wing, or having more and more of his cut-inside-and-shoots from outside the box. He needs to be in a system where he's in the box receiving balls when he's making an outside-in run into the box.

I don't like how he's reacted. But I think a lot of his role is down to the 'head coach' and given he has played everyone else in other positions, I am amazed we haven't see Mo tried on the LW, at CF or even as AM.

It's tactics and personnel as much as it's his attitude and form. We've come in to this season with him struggling to trap a ball and struggling to get him in the game in a meaningful way. Other players might adapt their game. He still tries to beat someone for pace and failing.

Last year we actively played without a 9 to maximise his time in the box. In fact we always have. The systems changed to cater to the fact he's getting older, and he can't cope with that. He's now expected to be a normal winger and not the half 9 that he was.

I'm sorry, but if his ego is that fragile that he can't cope with aging, then why fucking bother playing him?

 

[Brizzle ★]

Salah really is on his last legs so straight away that 5 is less impressive than it looks. If you replaced him with someone like Semenyo then yeah it's potentially the best but even then it's reliant on Wirtz and Isak having finally found their feet.

Looking at it now then yes at current performance levels it is poor. But at the start of the season we had the two highest scorers from the PL last season, with the Bundesliga's top assister from last season in there too. Ekitike also outscored both Woltenmade & Sesko who both made big moves over here.

So on paper, that Roster was in my view the best at the start of the season. That was only 3 months ago. But its all fallen to pieces.

 

[Farkmaster ★]

Looking at it now then yes at current performance levels it is poor. But at the start of the season we had the two highest scorers from the PL last season, with the Bundesliga's top assister from last season in there too. Ekitike also outscored both Woltenmade & Sesko who both made big moves over here.

So on paper, that Roster was in my view the best at the start of the season. That was only 3 months ago. But its all fallen to pieces.

Because it's football not a swim team, and you're counting chickens that haven't hatched.

But if the point is he should be getting more out of them, of course he should. Some of them aren't going to work out and be important in a couple years, because that's what happens always with purchases.

Salah definitely won't be important in a couple years.

Salah retarded the process of what we are doing now, and we managed to get a title out of figuring that out for half a season. The player we asked to do the most to make it work isn't here anymore. But even last year, at our best, we didn't have an elite team attack or good interplay. Figuring that out again is a total waste of time.

 

[tombrown ★]

View: https://x.com/indykaila/status/1999093930705793107?s=20

 

[peterhague]

Looking at it now then yes at current performance levels it is poor. But at the start of the season we had the two highest scorers from the PL last season, with the Bundesliga's top assister from last season in there too. Ekitike also outscored both Woltenmade & Sesko who both made big moves over here.

So on paper, that Roster was in my view the best at the start of the season. That was only 3 months ago. But its all fallen to pieces.

But Salah imo isn't the player he was or even good now, so that's one down. imo, anyway.

Then Wirtz just hasn't settled in the league yet, which happens. And Isak has had a nightmare in terms of prep, and by the time he was getting close to being ready, the team was in poor form and general turmoil.

It's completely inappropriate to just treat it as "we had it all and now it's fallen apart!". It's obviously a waaaaay more nuanced picture than that, and at the bottom of it it MIGHT be mostly or wholly attributable to the manager, or it MIGHT be wholly attributable elsewhere. Just stating the bare facts in that contextless way is useless.

 

[rubans]

Gotta be honest, That whole interview made me uncomforable. I assume he was due to come out after that game give the interview because TNT presenter was msking out like Slot was just hanging about while Virgil was being interviewed. But currently Mo had his bed and needs to at least lie there.

Not quite. He would always start wide, but if you were to look at his goal map they come inside the box. I imagine if you looked at his shot map this season, they are outside of the box. It only needs to be a 3-4 yard difference and there is an extra line of players in the way.

Doing some research on the fly. Mo's goals last season:

I can't find a shot map but i'm sure its out there - I would be there is a lot less on that line between penalty spot and RH post and more towards the outside of the box.

Not saying its a huge shift, but its enough to see a big drop off.

If you truly believe he is playing the same as he always has, and that the tactics around him haven't changed - I admire the lack of detail you watch for in a football game.

It's very obvious how we play this season and latter end of last season has shifted, not sure it was intentional but been obvious. Not sure why there is a disagreement about this basic fact. There's a few players who have struggled with that.

 

[rubans]

View: https://x.com/indykaila/status/1999093930705793107?s=20

I assume Hughes will be dialing in for it rather than turning for work as per last 2yrs but just a hunch.

 

[rubans]

Awkward at the end but that maybe down to lag in the video comms between studio and Erland:

View: https://x.com/SalahUpdates/status/1998896565453480002?s=20