Who leaves the other ... Salah or Liverpool?

If you are a fan of Liverpool, try to overcome your sorrows after the celebrations of the guaranteed Premier League title stopped due to a global epidemic that no one thought of, and try to be cautious about what is to come and anticipate the calamities before they happen. This time it may be a matter of the most prominent player on the team, Mohamed Salah, and the news of his departure from the Reds.

Before we begin, you just have to answer a few questions, and if you answered them all with Mohamed Salah, you grabbed the first thread with us. Who is the player with the most goals scored? Who is the most missed player? Who is the most selfish player in the front trio? More player to sing to Anfield fans? Finally, who do you see closest to departing from the offensive trio? It appears that we are facing a somewhat weird evaluation case, which just lacks appreciation.

do not appreciate

Indeed, former Liverpool defender Jimmy Carragher stated in one of the Sky Sports studios that Salah was suffering from lack of appreciation, not from the competitors, but from the Liverpool fans themselves, where he said:

"Liverpool have 6 star-rated players, Alison, Van Dyck, Arnold, and the Triple Manny, Firmino, Salah. If you offer Liverpool fans a large sum for selling one of the mentioned five, they will refuse whatever the amount, but if you offer them 130 million for example, Example versus Salah, so they will think, and I see this as a lack of appreciation for what he does. ”(1)

"Carragher" decided to respond to that in the shortest direct way; through the numbers, since the arrival of the former Roma player to Anfield in August 2017, he was the most contributing goals scored and industry - behind Lionel Messi of course - in the top five leagues with 92 goals in 97 games ( Until February 2020). It is worth noting that he is the only player from Liverpool in the top ten on the list. (2)

But this way of using numbers without details is considered by many to be manipulative, even if the numbers of a player who won the title of top scorer for the Premier League for two seasons in a row, therefore it was necessary to refute to know the reasons why the fans feel about Salah's performance.

The first and most widely circulated reason is the selfishness of the Egyptian star, where Salah made achieving goals his first concern, even if at the expense of passing to his colleagues in better positions. But according to the "Football Whispers" website, Salah is not that bad, as the numbers compare the contributions of the attacking trio in the 2018-2019 season, and what was played from the 2019-2020 season, where Salah advanced them in the average goals by 0.63 per 90 minutes, and Mani followed 0.61. But, strangely enough, Salah also advanced them at the level of industry and key passes, at a rate of 0.25 assists per 90 minutes equal to Firmino, and 1.91 key passes. (3)

Cristiano's copy

Is it normal not to feel these numbers? Obviously that is, and Salah's transformation into a copy of Cristiano Ronaldo helped with that, so let's move on to the next reason, which is lighter than his predecessor, Salah is quick but not as elusive as Sadio Mane.

In fact, you are not alone in imagining this, because Mane appears more than Salah in the second third, and contributes more than him to the progression of the ball from the second to the third, and consequently receives more balls away from the dangerous areas, unlike the Egyptian, who tends to be positioned among the opponent's defenders. But “whoscored” numbers may be a little confusing, as Mane’s dodging rate in the 2019-2020 season was “2.1” dodging per 90 minutes, only Salah’s rate of “0.1”! (4) (5)

To try to explain these numbers and the public's disregard for them, we must pay attention to the change in the Liverpool system, which changed Salah's tasks. After the 2017-2018 season, Al-Masry presented himself with tasks closer to the attacker than the wing, in what is known as "Wide Forward" (the attacker who starts positioning away from the depth and then moves in). Accordingly, his goal rates convinced the German coach, "Juergen Klopp" to bring him closer to Depth, in parallel, right-back star Trent Alexander Arnold began to rise, completing the moves of the two together, Salah leaves the line, and he holds the opponent's back, in preparation for the rise of "Arnold" and sending crosses. (6)

Analyst "Vishnesh Giannith" provided an analysis in cooperation with "Statsbomb" to clarify this point accurately, by studying Salah's performance in the period from August to November of 2019. Salah was the most receiving the balls in the half-spaces (longitudinal space between the back Flip the defense) and get it to the last third, and the next tweet will show you more. (7)

As for Salah's capabilities and speed, concentration in the crowded depth is not his most prominent strength, especially when he focuses too much on recording himself, and the rush appears followed by wrong decisions, even in easy games that do not call for all this stumbling, but in general Salah remains dealing with this situation well . So where is the problem that caused discretion, or rather misunderstanding?

How do you introduce yourself?

The problem does not lie in numbers and statistics as much as in the way Salah presented himself at Anfield. The Egyptian international did not present himself as an ordinary player or a player of the first category, but he presented himself more complicated, in what may be called football and others as "Game Changer", and he is the player who is able to intervene in the crucial moments of tipping his team.

Salah was not only satisfied in his first season with an impressive goal rate, but he was decisive in almost all major appointments. Without going back to the summaries of that season, he scored against Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City in the League and Champions League, Rome, even the derby against Everton, and only Manchester United escaped from his very late defense led by Jose Mourinho. It was an imaginary season in which he also led the Egyptian national team to the World Cup in Russia 2018. As for the following season, he scored in Naples, a long shot against Chelsea, two penalties against Arsenal and Tottenham, and the last in the Champions League final, even if we forgot one or two goals, nothing comparable His first season.

To introduce yourself in this way and then take a step back, this will make your evaluation subject to permanent debate, even if you put that step in the first category. Hence the problem became purely moral, Salah increased its size by his bad use of social media, with some strange statements, to lose the moral battle with many of his followers, despite his theoretical victory in the digital battle, and then was followed by miscalculation, which opened the door to the possibility of leaving.

But does the Liverpool administration view the matter with the same public view? It is impossible, we are talking about the best management in the world in managing the transfer market through data and statistics, and according to what they will find, Salah remains the best "Wide Forward" on the level of scoring, and is not matched by what he does except the French, Clyan Mbappe, but according to developments, the door is open to all possibilities .

Many are discussing the matter as if he is, Carragher and Gary Neville are arguing about it, Mohamed Al-Nini advises him to stay, setting the example with Eden Hazard at Real Madrid, and Steve MacManman believes that the Egyptian star should not consider leaving. But they all forgot that Salah, according to his current personality, would want to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona to move closer to the Golden Ball, as he was the closest of the Liverpool attack trio to compete for it. (8) (9)

That character that the masses differed in describing between harmful selfishness or self-love that motivates success, will make them finally agree that the consequences of this nature will be a legitimate ambition of the Golden Ball, and this ambition may coincide with the latest news from the African continent to establish the next African Nations Cup in January / January 2021, which could put Liverpool in trouble by relying on the duo Salah and Mane, and exit from this predicament may involve selling one of them, and until such time, we will be ready to discuss alternatives. (10)