LIVERPOOL WEREN’T EVEN AT THEIR BEST

MO SALAH’S performance against United was fantastic but he and Liverpool weren’t even at their best. I was surprised as I’d predicted a 2-2 draw beforehand but United were absolutely shocking. Paul Pogba’s challenge on Naby Keita was outrageous and it underlined how they played. Gerard Houllier always used to say ‘play these big games with fire in your belly and ice in your brain’. United’s melted early on and they lost the plot. The other plus for me was Ibrahima Konate’s performance in only his second game. What a baptism. He was powerful, read the game well and looks an excellent partner for Virgil van Dijk.

Jurgen Klopp and his staff made some big calls with Konate’s call-up, sticking with Keita and putting Sadio Mane on the bench but they got it all spot on. Liverpool now have to find a sensible way of getting Salah tied down to a new contract. It’s going to cost around £350,000 a week and I understand the clamour for ‘just pay him what he wants’ but Liverpool’s predicament is his age — he’s 29 — and setting a precedent ahead of other world-class players such as Van

Dijk and Mane. They have to be sensible. That may mean stacking the deal with loyalty bonuses to boost his earnings to reward and encourage sustained levels of performance. They have to be very careful. He says he wants to stay at Liverpool for life and that worries me as sometimes those statements are a precursor to a player running down a contract. We need his agent to meet us in the middle. Liverpool made him the superstar he is today. He should be rewarded but the deal has to be done with head rather than heart as paying those figures can be damaging for a dressing room and the club if you don’t structure things correctly.