Mohamed Salah Can Fill Critical Voids At Liverpool

Mohamed Salah Can Fill Critical Voids At Liverpool
21:18, 22 Jun 2017

It’s not often that a single signing enables a club to tick off multiple clear and obvious issues within the squad, but that’s what Liverpool have managed by adding Mohamed Salah.

While the defence remains in largely the same shape it has been for the past couple of years, no offensive addition can be claimed to be the fabled final piece of the jigsaw, but there were issues at the top end of the team for the Reds in 2016/17 nonetheless and Salah will help in each regard.

In the first and most obvious instance, he brings pace in wide areas. Too often last term, if Sadio Mane was unavailable, Liverpool had very little hope of stretching teams, pulling defences out of shape and having someone to surge in behind the full-backs, offering an avenue for a more direct, cutting pass. Now, with Salah, they can have it from both flanks at once—or still have it when Mane doesn’t play, a critical point.

Then there’s the potential goal threat. Mane hit 13 for Liverpool last term and top-scored in the league, second overall behind Philippe Coutinho’s 14. Salah netted 15 in Serie A and 19 overall. The Egyptian is a composed finisher, capable with either foot but stronger on his left, and has no trouble finishing on the run.

Thirdly, Salah gives Liverpool great tactical versatility. It’s easy to assume he’ll slot in on the left of the 4-3-3, but it was the right he excelled from with AS Roma last term more often than not, where Mane did so well for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp has to find the balance: can Salah still be as effective when not cutting infield onto his stronger side? Or can Mane be the same penetrative threat from the left?

But that’s where Salah can offer an alternative: he played centrally, too, and with great effect at times. The Reds have often switched to 4-4-1-1 late in games to protect leads, and Salah is a natural option to play in behind a striker, dropping into midfield and using his great pace to join up with the attack on the counter. Then there’s the late-season switch from Klopp to a 4-4-2 diamond—Salah or Mane can play as a second forward, splitting wide into the channels alongside a Roberto Firmino or Daniel Sturridge, more natural central presences.

Salah will bring work rate, impressive physicality in the challenge considering his role and size, and a player who has shown he can score with regularity. At international level for Egypt he has 29 in 53, better than one every two games. Last term for Roma he netted against Porto, Lyon, Lazio, Sampdoria and Napoli, big games with plenty riding on them. He’s not just a tool to bludgeon the smaller sides with—though, of course, it’s against those sides, the bottom-half clubs, where Liverpool struggled last year. Thankfully, Salah can also point to goals against Palermo, Pescara, Chievo and a hat-trick against Bologna as proof of his prowess against league minnows.

It has taken some time to get over the line, but Salah is a big signing for the Reds, and not just because of the record fee. He alone means the attacking line is largely complete for the campaign ahead, and it’s time to focus on other areas. Get those ones right and the real final pieces of Klopp’s exciting plan could start to offer a fascinating shape for the season ahead.

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