STAND UP FOR SUPER SALAH
Anfield maestro has fans on their feet
THE Kop has a song for Mohamed Salah which goes to the tune of Sit
Down by 90s indie band James. The irony is that when the Egyptian magician gets the ball the effect is the exact opposite.
Salah, who scored the second and set up the first in another Liverpool romp, was again magnificent as Jurgen Klopp’s freescorers marched above Manchester United into second place.
The winger continues to make a mockery of Jose Mourinho’s decision to jettison him out on loan before he was eventually turfed out of Chelsea for around £15million. Thirty one goals so far this season. Six in six.
In freezing February, with plenty of football to be played, he has already matched Luis Suarez’s bestever season tally for Liverpool. But Klopp preferred to concentrate on the efforts of others.
‘Mo is a boy who is full of greed to score goals,’ said the German. ‘In football, it is all about doing the right thing in the moment but being fluent depends on all the players.’
Emre Can put Liverpool on their way on the half-hour mark before Salah and Firmino made it three after the interval. Hammers substitute Michail Antonio pulled one back seconds after coming on but Sadio Mane restored order.
‘I would have taken a 1-0, hit the post four times, Karius 20 saves, whatever — because we need the points,’ added Klopp who praised the visitors’ battling qualities.
It is nothing new for a victorious manager to pay gushing tribute to vanquished opponents but Klopp was right to do so. West Ham were organised early on, and with Marko Arnautovic at his enterprising best, performed well in the first half before running out of answers to the red barrage.
They face Swansea and Burnley next as their survival quest goes on, but David Moyes denied this was a match they had written off.
‘I would never say this was a free hit because we drew with Arsenal, played well against City and beat Chelsea at home,’ the West Ham manager said. ‘We hoped to do similar here and in the first half we were close to it.’ On the 25th anniversary of the passing of Bobby Moore, the Hammers early on put in a defensive showing that the great man would have enjoyed.
However, after half an hour, their hard work was undone in straightforward fashion when Can rose easily above debut-making Patrice Evra at the far post to head in Salah’s inswinging corner.
These are indeed Liverpool’s Salah days, and after the break the prolific 25-year-old was at it again, capitalising on the relentless graft of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who won an unlikely ball in the Hammers area to turn and fire into the corner through Aaron Cresswell’s legs. On 57 minutes it was three.
This time Adrian, who had performed well in the West Ham goal, inexplicably came for Can’s ball and missed it, leaving Firmino with a simple tap-in.
The three-goal cushion lasted barely a minute when Hammers midfielder Chiekhou Kouyate won the ball and released Michael Antonio, who had only been on the field for seconds and who finished well across Karius into the bottom corner.
Mane then hit a post from close range but made no mistake from even closer minutes later.
Liverpool wake up this morning ahead of United, who entertain Chelsea this afternoon.
‘I would say we are not second,’ said Klopp. ‘I don’t think United and Chelsea think too much about us but they know we are around.’