Ok so a quick look at his scoring stats will tell you that Mohamed Salah hasn’t had quite as good a season this term as he had in his maiden campaign as a Liverpool player.

But I think if you look deeper into the Egyptian’s second season you’ll still be very impressed by Salah’s contribution this term.

The second year is often a much tougher one for a footballer at a club, especially after such a dominant first season.

More questions start to surround your game.

Can he do it again? Can he be even better? Have defenders worked him out? 

When we discuss Salah’s time at Liverpool, we should always remember that the forward had not scored twenty in a season before he joined the Premier League giants.

Now people have suggested that he hasn’t been as good this year as he was in his debut campaign but to be fair he’s still the league’s top scorer with twenty-two goals. Only Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Fabio Quagliarella have scored more league goals in the top five European leagues.

Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane has had a fairly consistent scoring season, Sergio Aguero has been in scintillating form for rivals Manchester City and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been banging them in for Arsenal, yet Salah still has a two goal lead over them (three over Aubameyang).

The attacker has also made ten assists in all competitions. Which again is slightly down on last year but it still shows consistency and that’s what every great game changer needs.

Liverpool are heading into next weekend and are one game from winning their first Premier League title.

Salah has had a slight dip in form during the middle part of the campaign but he has come alive during the run in and that’s what title challengers need from their top players. Just look at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, they’re teams are always at their best when those two peak at the end of a season.

In his last five league outings, Mo Salah has contributed with five goals and an assist. That included an absolute stunner in their vital winner over his former side Chelsea.

I know The Reds lost 3-0 to Barcelona in their first leg of the semi-final tie in the Champions League but every time Salah got on the ball he possessed the pace and trickery that created fear throughout Barca’s backline. He looked like a standout player and only Messi looked better that night!

Earlier this year, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp stated just how good and important Salah was for his side (Via Sky Sports):

“He’s a world-class player,”

“It worked really well bringing him from Roma, it was absolutely a win-win situation. He benefits a lot from the way the team is playing and his scoring desire and being in the right positions is a really rare skill, which is why everyone is looking for players like this. It’s just fantastic.”

That explains why the German coach didn’t panic when Mo’s goals dried up in the winter months.

While Mohamed Salah hasn’t had the same scoring season this year at Anfield, I actually think he’s shown real class and mental strength this term.

The Egyptian international has still turned up in the big games, he’s still scored vital goals and he’s once again leading the Premier League scoring charts.

He has once again shown us that he can be relied upon to get twenty plus a season and that he can get over a slump at the right times to.

Posted on May 5th, 2019 by scott
Filed under: Article