CHEER UP MO, YOU’RE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!
IT will come as no surprise that Mohamed Salah doesn’t look at headlines, listen to pundits or read what is said about him on social media.
At full-time on Saturday, after a scintillating display that helped Liverpool to the top of the Premier League and Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe described as one of the best he had ever seen, Salah trudged off the pitch, bouncing the match ball before clutching it in his right arm.
He had scored a breathtaking hat-trick but looked as though his mind was already set on that crunch Champions League tie with Napoli tomorrow night.
A serenade of ‘Egyptian King’ continued as he made his way to the tunnel where a number of home fans clapped him off.
Fast-forward a few minutes to his live post-match interview on TV, when he declined to accept the man-of-the-match award from James Milner. ‘No, I will not accept this,’ Salah said, preferring to give it to his team-mate who had made his 500th Premier League outing.
Humble, selfless or just focused on what he believes he has to do, it was a demonstration that while others get carried away, he stays rooted to the ground.
What he has to do, of course, has been widely discussed. His tally of 44 goals last season was the best return of his career, but brought with it a very high level of expectation: that whenever he is on the ball something special will happen.
But it really isn’t as simple as that. Before this masterclass in anticipating loose balls, toying with defenders and fine finishing, the 26-year-old hadn’t scored in three games.
Did that worry Jurgen Klopp, just a little? ‘I was not one second worried,’ said the Liverpool boss.
It took four seconds from Salah laying the ball off to Roberto Firmino to him scoring his first against Bournemouth.
A delicate touch, a first-time strike from Firmino that was parried by Asmir Begovic and Salah was razor-sharp to get ahead of Nathan Ake and cushion into the goal. Perhaps Salah’s movement to the ball was too quick for the officials, who with the help of VAR would have recognised he was offside.
‘How often do we get a situation like that and the guy who gets the ball thinks, “Oh, free goal” and we are still looking for the ball?’ Klopp said. ‘So he made that look really composed.’
By the time he got his and Liverpool’s second he was in full flow. Firmino passed into his path and he was gone.
Bournemouth defender Steve Cook, who scored an own goal for Liverpool’s third, tried to clip his heels, but Salah stayed on his feet and finished into the bottom corner before Ake could get across.
His third, which saw him become the fastest player to score 40 Premier League goals for Liverpool, was a delight.
This time Cook went to ground trying to stop him but Salah continued into the box where he took on Begovic only to double back, go past the goalkeeper a second time and pick his spot beyond Ake and Cook on the line.
‘Goals two and three,’ Klopp added smiling. ‘I don’t know who would have scored these goals. That was outstanding.’
Howe couldn’t help but agree. ‘He’s one of the best players in the world,’ he said.
So, where did the doubts come from? Were they legitimate? And was too much expected of Salah, who, we should not forget, arrived at Anfield from Roma last year without the fanfare of those he continues to outscore at home and abroad? His hat-trick put him joint-top of this season’s league goal standings with Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang on 10 and took his total to 12 in all competitions ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus.
Klopp is quick to add that he doesn’t know what has been written about Salah but admits he has had to maintain and feed his desire to want more, while stopping him from feeling down when it doesn’t go his way.
‘Everybody would struggle a little bit (after last season). How can you improve it?’ he said. ‘So, we have all had to learn to deal with it and he has as well. He has never had a season like that, and if he wants to have the season again he has to do it step by step, that’s what we do and that’s what he is doing.’