SALAH OUT OF TOUCH BUT KOP CLASS ARE MAKING PROGRESS
SoMEtiMES you can tell a lot from a single decision on a football field.
Manchester City’s decision to allow riyad Mahrez to take a penalty ahead of the centre forward gabriel Jesus was one that was pertinent to the result of this game.
As City wait to end a winless run at Anfield that stretches back to 2003, they will think on that for a while.
however, it was an instinctive split-second call made by Liverpool’s Mo Salah 15 minutes earlier that told us much about a personal struggle that only a glut of goals will bring to an end.
Played clear by Andrew robertson at the Kop end, Salah’s first touch to take Aymeric Laporte out of the game was superb. the City defender expected Salah to let the ball run and take him on.
instead, Salah’s touch set him clear on goal and as the ball bounced up nicely, a lob over City goalkeeper Ederson beckoned. given the goalkeeper’s advanced position and the run of the ball, it was the obvious option.
it would have been a high-tariff call but last season Salah wouldn’t have hesitated. here, though, Salah took the other, safer option, choosing to put his foot through the ball and see what happened.
What happened was that the ball flew high and wide into the crowd. Liverpool’s best chance to win this game had gone.
Salah has scored three times in the Premier League this season, so his manager Jurgen Klopp is right to swat away talk of a real problem. however, it is how a player looks that can often tell you more than the statistics and the fact is that Salah is not the threat that he was last season.
teams are wise to him, of course. Last season he scored 32 goals in the Premier League and, given that he doesn’t take free-kicks or penalties, he will in all likelihood never score that many again.
here, City looked to have learned some lessons from their two cataclysmic visits to Anfield last season. their full backs had clearly been listenining to their coach.
For all that Pep guardiola talked up his team’s intention to beat Liverpool at their own attacking game, the reality was that the Liverpool front three were afforded less space than they are used to.
Central defender John Stones was superb and guardiola’s decision to leave captain Vincent Kompany on the bench at a ground where he never plays well was vindicated.
the stats showed that Stones did not miss a pass, tackle or clearance all game and on a day when the two Liverpool central defenders — Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren — were generally excellent, the England player was central to a sense of comfort that guardiola’s team have never felt at Anfield before.
For Salah, the test of a truly great player is found partly in his ability to regenerate himself season on season. For example, Cristiano ronaldo left Manchester United a different footballer than the one who arrrived.
Salah is not at that point yet. Last season was a long one — he played 56 games, including the World Cup — and the fast-forward way that he tends to play his football does ask serious physical questions every week. he will find his stride soon enough and, without a win from four difficult games, Liverpool maybe face greater questions than those about one player.
of interest is that Klopp is not using any of his three major summer outfield signings: naby Keita, Fabinho or Xherdan Shaqiri. this means that a team who finished 25 points behind City last season is essentially being asked to close the gap with the help only of a new goalkeeper.
Liverpool miss the drive of Alex oxlade- Chamberlain, too. the scorer of the rasping second goal when Liverpool thrashed City 3-0 in the Champions League in April will not be back until late in the season.
Klopp’s team have played three rivals — City, Chelsea and tottenham — already this season and are joint top of the Premier League. Klopp will quite rightly argue that is progress in itself.