Salah About To Reach Top Gear As Liverpool Challenge Manchester City
The general consensus so far this season is that Mohamed Salah is operating far below his best and is struggling for form, but ahead of Liverpool’s crucial fixture against defending champions Manchester City, he could be ready to make his mark.
The Egyptian didn’t have the best preparation for the new season having spent much of the summer in his homeland participating in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were also heavily involved with their respective nations over the summer, though, and it doesn’t seem to have affected them so far. But assessments of Salah paint a picture of sluggish, unproductive performances and a player who is yet to reach top gear.
An ankle injury suffered against Leicester early in October further interrupted his rhythm, but the 90 minutes of football he was given against Genk in the Champions League last week showed he now has the stamina to play a full game, and could be approaching full throttle once again.
In the recent fixture at Anfield against Genk, Salah played some clever passes to team-mates and was heavily involved in the build-up play in the final third. He has been accused of being selfish, but some of his passing and movement in that game was not the soccer of a player thinking only about himself.
He finished that game having made four key passes, as many as Trent Alexander-Arnold who is considered Liverpool’s creative hub, and assisted the goal scored by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain although that strike was mostly the Englishman’s doing.
It’s in front of goal where Salah has looked less convincing in recent games, but his finishing has never really been orthodox. He likes a Lionel Messi-style chip over the keeper when the opportunity presents itself, but a lot of the time his shots can appear scuffed or mis-hit, though this has been the case with many of the game’s goal-poachers.
At the moment these shots are being saved or going off target, but as demonstrated by his penalty against Tottenham, he can still hit the ball true when he wants to.
He’s getting in the right positions, as shown by his xG, and going into the biggest game of the season, he could be about to make more of this movement count.
LIVERPOOL FC VIA GETTY IMAGES
"To be honest I don't care about what people expect from me,” Salah said to Sky Sports when asked about recent criticism.
“As long as I'm scoring and the team is winning it's fine. I don't have to care about what people expect from me.
“That can put too much pressure on you and make you perform badly. I'm doing what I want to do and I'm happy about it."
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp regularly talks about the idea that each league game his side play is viewed as a cup match given the unstoppable nature of Manchester City in recent years. When the two face each other it only increases the importance of the upcoming 90 minutes.
“They were talking about that [the title race] in December last year when we were six or seven points ahead, and saying it was over," added Salah of Liverpool’s current six-point lead.
"It's not over, it's three games. If you have a bad period you can be in trouble again.
"Even if we win it's still a long way, it's only November and way too early to talk about the Premier League."
But this is exactly what everyone will be talking about this weekend ahead of what is probably the biggest game in world soccer, which takes some doing on a weekend which also includes Der Klassiker and an MLS Cup Final.
Salah will be looking to be the headline act, and the combination of a return to fitness and the promising positions he has been getting in could mean that he ends up being just that, but despite what’s been said about him, he won’t mind if that accolade goes to one of his team-mates... as long as Liverpool wins the game.
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