Forget the goals and assists that Mohamed Salah has scored this season. The Liverpool forward’s influence on the team has waned massively in 2019-20.
Yes, Salah scored Liverpool’s vital second goal against West Ham on Monday night in the Premier League as the Reds came from behind to win 3-2. Yet, his tame shot would have been saved 99% of the time.
Lukasz Fabianski’s blunder allowed Liverpool to level the match before Sadio Mane tallied a third goal to win the game. Such is life when West Ham have been as bad as they have this season.
Salah has scored 15 league goals along with four more in the Champions League. Despite the 19-goal haul, Salah has been anonymous for large chunks of the season. It isn’t a popular thing to say amongst Liverpool supporters but Salah’s play has been hot and cold all campaign.
Jurgen Klopp willingly substituted Salah against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie after he did very little. The Reds offered little in attack losing 1-0.
Salah compiled a 70% pass success rate, one dribble, one shot off target, and a mere 36 touches against Atletico Madrid. On Monday versus West Ham, Salah was better but against a lesser opponent.
The winger tallied three shots on target, 58 touches, one key pass, and five dribbles. However, Salah’s loose passes and losing of the ball overshadowed his positive contributions.
In 2017-18, Liverpool couldn’t win without Salah on the pitch. In the last two seasons, the Reds have evolved with Roberto Firmino and Mane becoming far more important attacking players.
Liverpool’s need for a creative midfielder rather than three hard-charging, gut-busting ball hawks was evident against West Ham. Kai Havertz is the man linked to the club but rumours claim signing the German would be at the expense of selling Firmino.
Havertz has just five goals and three assists in the Bundesliga, but watching him play on Sunday against Augsburg (a game that saw him tally an assist), the creativeness in his play was evident. Still, selling Firmino to acquire Havertz doesn’t seem wise or likely.
Salah has played a lot of football in the last 12 months. Perhaps a rest is needed for the Egyptian winger. However, his goals and assists are declining after his monster 2017-18 campaign. Right now, Salah is just off of his 15.22 goals expected and 6.71 expected assists numbers.
Those numbers won’t be ignored by Michael Edwards and his number-crunching transfer committee. Liverpool maybe on their way to the league title, but if they want to qualify for a third Champions League final, then Salah has to improve his play now.
It may be easy to forget, Liverpool made the greatest Champions League comeback last season with Salah ruled out of the game.
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