After winning many individual honors in his first season with Liverpool and receiving the Premier League Golden Boot title thanks to 32 goals in the same season, Mohamed Salah met with comedians, actors and celebrities. Egyptian community – Hesham Maged & Chico for a light interview in London.
The second question Salah was asked was: Would he think of melting down the Golden Shoes and selling them to return to Egypt and announce the end of his career?
And Salah’s answer was very short and sharp: “That is the only thing that cannot be touched, and the rest you can take whatever you want.”
For a child born in Nagrig, a town of 15,000 in northern Egypt, winning the Premier League’s Golden Boot wasn’t even Salah’s wildest dream. The Egyptian striker once told beIN Sports in a recent interview: “Honestly when I was young, all I dreamed of was becoming a famous player.”
And now, Salah not only has one Golden Shoe but also owns three similar titles. He scored goal after goal and broke the team record almost every week.
Something special for Salah was when he scored 129 goals for Liverpool in a 7-0 win over Manchester United in March this year. It was that goal that helped Salah break Robbie Fowler’s record as the player who scored the most goals for Liverpool in the Premier League era. Speaking to reporters after the match, Salah said: “That was the moment when I felt the happiest, my heart was happiest.”
Last Saturday, another record was achieved by Salah. With his goal against Crystal Palace, Salah’s total number of goals in the Premier League reached 150, an achievement equal to Michael Owen’s total goals for Liverpool, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City. The number of 150 goals also helped Salah enter the top 10 scorers of the country’s No. 1 tournament.
In terms of another achievement, that goal also helped Salah reach the milestone of 200 goals for Liverpool (the fifth best scorer in the club’s history).
Salah’s first goal in the Premier League for Chelsea in a 6-0 home win over Arsenal happened in March 2014. That goal felt like it was light years away from reality. Saying that is not too exaggerated because in the last decade, Salah has improved dramatically. He transformed himself from a player who relied heavily on speed and dribbling ability into a person who was almost perfect in every element of attack.
The learning curve Salah went through in Italy with Fiorentina and then Roma improved his overall game. And of course, after a not so smooth time at Chelsea, Salah still wants to return to the Premier League to assert his class once again. But as Salah’s status increases, expectations also multiply. And that happened right in the first match back in the Premier League against Liverpool.
In the 3-3 draw against Watford to open the 2017-18 season, Salah felt his first-half performance was not one of his best. That increased the pressure on Salah’s legs and thoughts throughout the match. However, after successfully taking the penalty kick and scoring in the second half, it seemed that all pressure on the Egyptian striker had disappeared. And since then, Salah’s goals for Liverpool have continued non-stop until today.
It was Michael Edwards – Liverpool’s then sporting director, Dave Fallows – head of recruitment and Barry Hunter – head of scouting team who convinced Jurgen Klopp that Salah (at that time still at AS Roma) is the perfect solution to replace the Julian Brandt deal (at that time playing for Bayer Leverkusen).
Jurgen Klopp and his assistants have transformed Liverpool into one of the best teams in the world during Salah’s six years with the club. At Liverpool, Salah is supported with everything he needs. Salah was provided with Andrew Robertson’s crosses, Jordan Henderson’s selfless runs, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s incisive passing, Virgil van Dijk’s solidity and assists from both of them. Very compatible teammates are Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. Salah has truly lived the most sublime years of his life with the support of the best players.
And what we can’t help but mention is Salah’s constant improvement in his playing style – something Klopp has noticed throughout the years. “I watched him play for Roma and I know that everything he has will be extremely important, super useful for Liverpool’s squad,” Klopp told beIN Sports in October.
“But we all didn’t know, and maybe Salah didn’t know at the time, what a great goalscoring machine he would one day be. I was quickly impressed by his early goals, but now I still feel that way every time Salah scores. He wants to improve his game every day, anywhere, anytime. And that’s what I love most about Salah.”
Salah’s hard-working approach to the game and progressive mentality in his play have helped expand his attacking skill set. Thanks to it, Salah’s goals are also very diverse.
Salah’s iconic finish was when he received the ball from the right wing…
…before moving inside and curling a shot into the far corner.
When receiving the ball with his back to a defender, Salah’s core strength supported by the impressive physical transformation he has undergone over the years has given him a huge advantage in situations. 1v1. Salah is very strong in such situations because he basically understands how to use his strengths.
And the goal against Manchester City last season at Anfield is a typical example where Salah showed completely superior skills against Joao Cancelo to score the decisive goal for Liverpool.
After Man City’s direct free kick, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson quickly started a counterattack by passing the ball directly to Salah before the rest of the away team’s defenders could retreat to their positions.
And as the ball approached him…
…Salah turned his back to Cancelo to disrupt the Man City full-back’s attempt to gain control of the ball, and separate him from the ball’s flight.
While handling the situation, Salah used his right foot to control the ball…
…and created pressure to stop Joao Cancelo with his left hand…
…before defeating Ederson in a face-to-face situation.
In the next example against Manchester United in January 2020, there was also another assist developed by goalkeeper Alisson after a set-piece by the home team.
In the counterattack, Salah ran quickly forward to control the goalkeeper’s long pass, while Daniel James still had to run with all his might to chase the ball to save Man United.
While dribbling the ball forward, Salah used his right arm as a pressure point to continuously keep Daniel James at a disadvantage in the tackle before he kicked the ball towards De Gea’s goal.
…this gives a huge advantage in this quick counterattack. Because that was almost the final shot for all of Man United’s efforts to find a score.
“In that match because he (James) was very fast, and I knew he was running very fast from behind me. So at that time I just tried to do everything to feel that he was still behind me and at the same time not give him a chance to rise up,” Salah told Steven Gerrard in March.
As for the following goal against Man City, it probably doesn’t need too much introduction.
It was October 2021 when Salah breached Manchester City’s defence. The Egyptian dribbled past four players and used his right foot to score arguably his best goal in the Premier League.
“I’m trying to practice moving my shot from left to right because everyone expects me to shoot with my left foot,” Salah said. “At that time, I was just trying to dribble the ball inside to confuse them (opponents) in guessing which foot I would shoot with.
The skill of dribbling in tight spaces has probably existed in Salah’s ability to play football for a long time, it may have come from before he moved to Europe with Basel in 2012. Salah believes that a Part of that ability to handle the ball comes from his days playing street football, and especially five-a-side matches. A place where the space is much tighter than the 11th stadium football arena.
The first of his two goals against West Ham United in January 2021 was a clear example of how Salah can gain advantage in the smallest of spaces. After receiving the ball from Curtis Jones, Salah found himself in a 1v1 situation against Aaron Cresswell…
…and the space became smaller as Pablo Fornals started to drop back to support his full-back.
The turning point of this goal came when Salah made a feint as if he was going to dribble the ball towards the touchline…
…this forced Cresswell to put his weight on his left leg. And when that moment happened, Salah dribbled the ball inside with his left foot, a moment when Cresswell completely lost the initiative.
… West Ham’s defender realized too late to realize the threat that Salah brought to the home team’s goal.
Another example came at Chelsea the following season. Here, Alexander-Arnold noticed Salah running into space and was able to run and pass the ball past the defense.
After Salah controlled the ball with his right foot, he faked a turn with his left foot…
…this fooled Marcos Alonso, who used his right foot as a brake to slow down his movement.
If you have ever run in any environment, you probably know that the legs used to stop running are what carry the entire body weight when you stop…
…and that’s why Alonso is left behind by SAlah in this situation.
This is similar to the goal Salah scored against West Ham, just when the defender closest to his position put his body weight on the farthest foot, Salah decided to push the ball into space.
Salah then opened his body as if to try and shoot into the far corner, but instead fired a shot into the near corner.
Before using a feint to get past Alonso, Salah attacked into space to present himself as a passing option for Alexander-Arnold. Smart movement off the ball is another strong feature of many of Salah’s Premier League goals.
In the example against Sheffield United in the 2019-20 season, Salah started running into space in front when he saw Van Dijk pass the ball into Robertson’s running position on the other side of the field.
The Egyptian striker’s quick movements allowed him to defeat Sheffield’s defense very quickly. And from there, it provided Robertson with a very convenient passing option in the penalty area. Of course, the captain of the Scotland team cannot miss such a tectonic situation that appears before his eyes…
His first goal against Brentford at Anfield this season is another example.
Here, Salah attacked the space left by Mads Roerslev, Brentford’s left-back vacated after Liverpool’s successful counter-attack. Darwin Nunez made a pass following Salah’s movement.
…and he controls the ball with his right foot…
…this creates a premise for Salah to be able to shoot with his dominant foot.
Running without the ball into the penalty area is typical of Salah’s playing style, but he is also very proficient in moving within the 18m box. Salah understands the space he has and adapts his movements to each situation.
In this next example, against West Ham in February 2020, Robertson was holding the ball on the left wing, while Salah and Firmino were looking to provide the Scot with passing options in the box.
When the West Ham midfield failed to retreat in time, Salah discovered the space between the lines and changed direction. Meanwhile, Firmino’s run forced the West Ham defenders to retreat deeper…
…this allowed Salah to freely attack into space and launch a shot that beat goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
Along with Manchester United, West Ham is Salah’s favorite opponent in the Premier League. He has scored 10 goals against both teams since returning to the competition in 2017. The clubs he has faced in the Premier League and failed to score are Luton Town, Swansea City, Sunderland and – ironically Instead, that includes Liverpool.
On the journey to reaching 150 goals in the Premier League, Salah scored 23 penalties and only missed 5 times. Initially, he was not one of Liverpool’s designated penalty takers and missing his first penalty with the club against Huddersfield Town in October 2017 did not indicate too much. about Salah. But three months later, Salah tested himself again on the penalty spot to catch Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane in the Golden Boot race.
Salah recounted that day: “There was an away match against Huddersfield, at that time Harry Kane scored 21 or 22 goals and I was at 20, 21 – in short, both of us were only one goal apart. ”. So when I saw Millie (James Milner) coming to take the ball to take the penalty I told him ‘Okay. Let me kick this kick’. I asked him very nicely to let me take the penalty.
At that time, a few home team players came to say something to me, but I still had to respond: ‘Dude, I need to score this goal. We were leading 2-0 in the 77th minute.”
To improve the penalty taking aspect of matches, Salah studied how opposing goalkeepers faced penalties. He looks back at the opportunities he missed and finds ways to do better in the next opportunities.
Throughout the years, Salah has improved every aspect of his game. Jurgen Klopp once commented on his favorite striker: “Every year I feel there is something new in his football skills.”
