Football News: i want to apologise for bashing Liverpool's Mo Salah

I am one of Mo Salah's biggest critics and i will be the first to admit he has dropped off a bit in terms of pace this season for Liverpool but that is literally it, the guy has world class movement, anticipation, 1st touch, passing, vision, work rate and when he wants, he can take on any defender, but Klopp and Pep train that out of players, just look at Diaz when he first joined and now! (and no am not talking about the last games after his terrible ordeal, but since the last 15-20 games last season as well).

The problem has mainly been how far away he has been playing from goal due to the tactics employed. Just watch how he played the last 15 minutes vs West Ham, he could have had 2 more goals and 2 assists in the space of 15 minutes due to him being closer to the action because Joe Gomez and then Conor Bradley kept the width, that was the main reason for Harvey Elliot playing so well too, because of the good tactics chosen in this game.

Just watch other games when Harvey Elliot played when the inverted-FB tactic was employed and he honestly stunk up the place, only passing backwards and losing the ball over and over again. Again not Harvey's fault because any RM would struggle playing all alone vs 3-4 players.

Salah is marked by up to 2-3 players in every single game since his 10th game for the club, and playing further away from goal makes Salah play closer to the the opponent's midfield, making him marked by closer to 3-4 players!

Cut the guy some slack, considering he has also been playing with a sore / broken toe for the last 4-5 months and his shoe is cut where his right toe is due to the pain he goes through, so he plays through the pain for the team and that is also a reason for some inconsistency.

He could have taken 2 months off to heal, but Klopp needs him and he can do a job even with one foot! 15 goals and 8 assists so far this season prove even despite some poor performances, he is still one of the absolute players on the planet playing with a broken toe! Maybe if he fully heals, we will see him back to his absolute best, but Klopp needs him and thinks he can do a job even when he is at 70-80%, then i trust Klopp and instead of bashing Salah i'll appreciate him playing through the pain!

Sorry for the long post, had a couple of beers and just found out Salah has been playing with a broken toe since June last year and i wanted to apologise for bashing him - The guy is a machine.

Written by Limpbisquits December 23 2023 12:09:20