22 Feb 2023 22:00:31
Is it time for Salah to be given a month's holiday and then comes back the player he was, because right now he is just plain ordinary. I would not have been surprised if he had missed that one last night.

1.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 22:19:40
No, it isn't.

2.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 22:21:20
But he didn’t miss did he? And in the last few games he’s shown signs of improvement. I could list some really good play by Salah in the last couple of weeks but it would bore people because there is actually quite a lot.

Now is not the time to rest him he’s just starting to get going again.

3.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 22:49:08
Lionel Messi could be playing where Salah is right now and youd be asking the same thing. The midfield isn't even europa league level. They don't win the ball high up don't win 2nd balls not a good first touch between them can't pass the ball. Salah either has to sprint onto an overhit pass or dribble past 5 defenders. We won't improve by playing the Ox over him but id start him in midfield mind you.

4.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 22:49:22
No mate. Apart from the obvious failings in the transfer windows, the failings on the pitch etc
One of the worst things we did this season was rewarding the players that didn’t qualify for the World Cup with Holidays and time off.
We rewarded failure, rewarded them for a bad start to the season, we had something like 7 players at the World Cup. We could’ve used that “second pre season” to get the team upto scratch, get this new system working, train train train.
Instead they went to New York and Maldives and by the time they got back to the shortened mini pre season holiday camp in Dubai the damage was done, the tone was set.

5.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 23:07:58
What damage was done and to whom in New York and the Maldives, LFC8?

6.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 23:08:56
I agree with Becker, he just showing signs of coming back to form, so nice play, increased new, a little bit of chemistry with Darwin and gakpo. I think it would be a really bad time to rest him. I did say about 2 months ago we show give him time off as he’s basically useless, but I think he’s plahimself into some level of form.

7.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 23:24:37
of course it isn't.

8.) 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023 23:52:47
It's our busiest period. No holidays.
He can have the night off in Madrid if he digs his 'Never Give Up' t-shirt and it has the same effect from the bench as it did the last time.
Can you imagine that? Most teams have to. We don't.

9.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 00:43:00
Salah’s form has dropped but he scored. Also who do we bring in for him because Bobby and Jota cannot play our wide. Diaz will might hit the ground running when he returns from injury in a couple of weeks or he might take a while to get up to speed. He is our first choice for the left hand position, which means Nunez goes central and Salah in his favoured position our right. Again, this just emphasises that once we get past those 3 our other forwards are not versatile at all. Bobby needs to be thanked for his service, wished all the best and let go this summer. Jota besides being a poacher has zero link up play and cannot play out left or out right. Plus we could fetch a decent fee for him so he needs to be thanked for his debut season but moved on. Get in a forward who can play across the front 3 and promote Doak.

10.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 01:33:56
What on earth did Salah do wrong last night? Looked lively. Scored a goal and made one. He’s one of the only lads who can actually say he did his job.

11.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 03:04:07
The front 3 chemistry is improving and they're starting to look like they understand each other. Holidays would disrupt that.

12.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 03:39:46
That's quite a fair assessment Alonso. I think you left out Gakpo who is able to play either on the left or centrally but seems more comfortable in the centre. I would say the opposite is true for Nunez though, who seems to perform better on the left than in the centre. I think even if Diaz is back, we should stick with Nunez, Gakpo, and Salah as our front three for now.

13.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 04:25:01
You really are talking some nonsense recently LiverpoolFC8, you should probably take a break because your form is worse than any Liverpool player right now.

14.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 05:12:26
I really don't see what the signs of improvement are. He is an amazing goal scorer, which for much of the last 18, coming on 24 months has been largely flashes of brilliance / opportunism in what are otherwise mostly underwhelming performances.

Our highest paid player is largely ineffective and non-influential and has been for months. If we're paying him to pop up and score a goal and then do nothing else for the rest of the match, then ok, I concede that we are getting what we are paying for. But something tells me we are paying for more from him. much more.

15.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 06:03:11
Salah had a break in the summer and for the World Cup and it didn’t spark him into his old world class form.

The only time I’ve seen Salah react form wise is when he doesn’t start games and he comes off the bench. He seems to want to prove a point. I think in 2 of his last sub appearances he scored a hattrick against Rangers and a double against Palace.

16.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 06:35:07
That is an interesting thought JK23 so I took a look at his sub appearances this season. The first one was the Rangers game where you rightly said that he scored a hattrick after coming on. The other was in the FA Cup third-round replay against Wolves when we were already leading.

I took a look at past seasons as well and it doesn't look like he affects games that much when he comes off the bench since we were already leading in most of them. The only other time he positively affected a result after coming off the bench was the last game of last season against Wolves to make it 2-1.

He doesn't come off the bench very often though and stats like goals/ assists don't paint a full picture of a player's contributions on the field so you may still be right in that he reacts better coming off the bench.

17.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 06:51:31
“They don't win the ball high up don't win 2nd balls not a good first touch between them can't pass the ball. ”

There are plenty of things to go after Onekiss without just making stuff up. To say the midfield all have a bad first touch and in particular can’t pass is just objectively bollocks.

18.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 07:21:46
Drac cheers for looking into it mate. I’ll be honest my comment was only off the top of my head from memory and it wasn’t as much as me saying he should start on the bench but more over that would be better than giving him a month off.

Agree though he does start and play a hell of a lot of football.

19.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 07:45:07
The question should be is there anyone better in our squad at the minute that even comes close to challenging Salah and his position? For me it’s a no, plain and simple. He stays in the team and helps dig us out, just like his other 10 team mates.

{Ed001's Note - surely that could be the problem? And sticking by him on that basis will not help. Sometimes you have to say a worse player who will work harder is more of a help to the team. Maybe it could be worth sitting him on the bench and putting in, for example, Doak and just letting them have a go at least. If even Salah can be dropped when he is not performing, it makes everyone sit up and take notice.}

20.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 08:16:31
No worries JK. That was an interesting thought and really intrigued me. Definitely warranted more looking into since we have had players who performed better after being dropped to the bench or completely. And I agree that it is better to start him on the bench than to give him a month off.

21.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 09:41:23
The forwards aren’t the issue. Midfield and defence are the problem.

22.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 10:12:02
Hmmm I agree that Mo's not been good this season but he has looked much improved in the last 3 games. I do think some competition on that right hand side would help keep him honest though.

I am still not particularly impressed with his finishing. It doesn't look like he's going to change on that front.

23.) 23 Feb 2023
23 Feb 2023 09:41:23
The forwards aren’t the issue. Midfield and defence are the problem.