Super Salah sets the standard
LONDON: Mohamed Salah will continue his record goalscoring form until the end of the season, according to his manager Jurgen Klopp.
The Egyptian star has scored 23 goals for Liverpool in all competitions since arriving at Anfield in the summer, equalling a club record set by Roger Hunt in 1961/62 for the most goals in a campaign before the turn of the year.
And despite a minor injury concern for the striker in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Leicester on Saturday, Klopp was full of praise for his player and said he could not envisage Salah’s form dropping in the second half of the season. “Mo can keep that standard for sure. It’s not just about scoring only, it’s about other situations. He is so important for us,” he said. “He knows and I know he could
Palace manager Roy Hodgson was delighted with the point, but rued the penalty miss as a golden opportunity to win the game. “I was very proud of the performance. We know how to play against a team with Man City’s quality and organization, but our discipline was very good and we tried to make the best of the attacking opportunities. There were chances throughout the course of the game.
“It was an excellent point and before the game we would have been jumping through hoops with a point, but when you get a penalty late in the game and you miss like we have before there is an element of sadness,” he said.
Despite dominating the match, City were unable to break Palace’s resistance, with the visitors only managing four shots on target all game. It was an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance from not score without support of the other boys. But yes, I think he can keep the standard.”
Salah’s fine domestic form — 17 Premier League goals and six in the Champions League — has been mirrored on the international stage too. In 11 appearances for his country this year, he has notched five goals, including an injury-time penalty against Congo that sent the Pharaohs to their first World Cup since 1990.
Egypt’s head coach Hector Cuper has also praised Salah, tipping him to become a “great” and good enough to play for the very best teams. Cuper told Spanish newspaper Marca: “Without doubt he is the star of the team. Salah is a very good player who has the ability to play for Real Madrid.”
Salah, whose talent came into question during his torrid spell at Chelsea in 2014 amid criticism about his ability, has silenced any doubters after an outstanding first the runaway leaders who lacked the clinical edge seen during their remarkable run of wins in recent months.
The home side had looked to hit Guardiola’s team on the break in the early stages, going close after a quarter of an hour from a Patrick van Aanholt strike from outside the box, but had to deal with the loss of their inspirational defender Scott Dann who was stretchered off within the first 20 minutes.
City came back into the match on the half-hour mark, the substitute Sergio Aguero — on for the injured Gabriel Jesus, who will be out for “one or two months” according to Guardiola — hitting the woodwork with a deflected shot. It was a brief highlight for the visitors in what was a tight and attritional first half.
So often the drivers of City’s creativity this season, both Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane had half of the season back in England. Since his time at Stamford Bridge, he has had successful stints at Italian sides Fiorentina and Roma, before joining Liverpool last year.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Salah said Klopp’s clear vision helped him settle at his new club. “At the beginning when I signed (for Liverpool) it was a bit different to Rome. But soon I knew what the coach wanted from me and the quality of players makes everything easier for me. From the first day I knew what I wanted to do and I scored goals in the pre-season, so I had a good start.”
And Salah is predicting a successful year for himself and his new club. “I am always saying I want to win titles here. I came here to win titles. To win something for the club, for us, for the fans. I would love to win something here. We are working hard every day to win something and I am sure we will this year,” he added. poor games, which prompted Guardiola to bring on Sterling early in the second half.
But the visitors were unable to create a chance of any real worth as the game ticked toward its conclusion, before the contentious penalty decision threw the game back into life. Sterling was penalized for a push on Palace’s Zaha and referee Jon Moss pointed to the spot. Milivojevic’s hard but straight spot-kick was saved by City’s Brazilian goalkeeper.
The afternoon got worse for Manchester City when their best player of the season, de Bruyne had to be carried off with a nastylooking injury, having been hacked down by Palace captain Jason Puncheon.
The point, however, put City further ahead of second-placed Chelsea who are 14 points behind Guardiola’s team going into the next round of matches.