Mohamed Salah failed to score, scare or seize any kind of opportunity against Manchester United on Sunday.
In fairness to the ‘Egyptian King’, you could make the same claim about pretty much every player on the pitch at Old Trafford as these arch-rivals played out a third goalless draw in six meetings.
More worryingly for the Premier League leaders, though, is that Salah now has just one goal in eight games against the so-called Big Six this season and is still without scoring or assisting at all against Man United.
This has led to suggestions last season’s Premier League Golden Boot winner is becoming a ‘flat-track bully’, bolstering his numbers against the division’s lesser lights but failing to contribute when it comes to the crunch.
So, are these accusations against Salah true? Or just an attempt from rival fans to go viral and undermine one of the greatest goalscorers in England right now? We’ve taken a look at both sides of the fence.
The case for:
The main premise of this argument is the fact that Salah has just one goal in games against top-six opposition this season.
That goal was a penalty during a 5-1 win over Arsenal in December, at a point where the Reds were already sitting pretty at 3-1. Beyond that, Salah has failed to score in a combined 12 games against Man United, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Everton, PSG, Napoli and Bayern this season – all direct rivals, local derbies or big European games.
Mo Salah this season:
Premier League:
vs. Spurs
Champions League:
— Football Tweet (@Football__Tweet) February 24, 2019
Moreover, Salah has managed just 56 touches in the opposition box against Liverpool’s top six rivals, 21 of which came against Arsenal alone. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old has created a combined total of just three ‘big chances’ against the aforementioned sides.
Salah has still notched up 20 goals in all competitions this season but has been marked out of games by the cream of the crop, struggling to even impose himself as a footnote in the biggest games and, ultimately, letting his side down during Liverpool’s most likely title challenge for years.
Even while trying to defend his forward, Jurgen Klopp admitted Salah has struggled when coming up against ‘world-class’ defenders.
When asked about Salah after the United game, Klopp said: “In big games, against Bayern, he was up against (David) Alaba who is a world-class player himself.
“It’s about how we use him, how we play him, all that stuff. Today obviously Lindelof and Shaw together did a pretty good job.”
The case against:
Salah has been poor against United, but it’s worth remembering that the rest of Liverpool’s front three haven’t exactly fared well themselves. Mane and Firmino have just one goal and one assist in a combined 12 league games against the Red Devils.
It would appear Liverpool’s arch-nemesis have the formula to stop the unstoppable and if you snuff out two parts in a three-cog system, that final piece comes under immense pressure.
But enough about how ‘bad’ Salah may have been. It’s time to look at how devastatingly brilliant he’s been on Merseyside overall.
EPL top scorer
— Dan Kennett (@DanKennett) February 24, 2019
Since the start of last season, Salah has eight league goals against the ‘big six’. No Liverpool player has more in that time, while he also notched in both legs of the 5-1 aggregate thrashing of Man City in the Champions League in April 2018.
This contributes to 16 goals in 28 games against England’s best, while, during his time in Italy and before his peak season, Salah scored four goals and assisted another three in 12 outings against Juventus and Napoli, Serie A’s dominant forces over the past few years.
Salah has an astonishing total of 64 goals in 86 games since joining the club in 2017 and if he continues at his current rate, he’ll become the first Liverpool player to score 30 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since Robbie Fowler.
Verdict:
Salah may have struggled against the top sides this season, but his previous record shows he is by no means a flat-track bully. Last season, he tore nearly every defence in front of him apart and actually set a record for scoring across the most separate Premier League games within a single season ever.
His overall record against Liverpool’s rivals, and in Serie A, shows just how potent he can be in big games.
He is yet to go more than two Premier League games without scoring this season, and as long as the Egyptian keeps notching goals, Klopp will feel it’s only a matter of time before one of the big guns feels the wrath of Salah once again.
The post Fact or fiction? Mohamed Salah the flat-track bully appeared first on Squawka News.
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