Mohamed Salah has not been using one of his great strengths for Liverpool this season. With Luis Díaz out, the combined effect is very damaging to the team.
Do you ever have that experience on Twitter when someone likes a tweet you posted months or years earlier? How on earth do people (bots) find them?
A recent instance of this phenomenon did at least trigger an interesting thought for me. I was reminded of a pre-match piece of trivia from Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Southampton in November 2021.
“Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has made 19 take-ons in the opposition box in the Premier League this season, at least 11 more than any other player in the competition (via @StatsZone),” it read. The statistical nugget provided a pleasant reminder of just how spectacularly the Egyptian was playing in the first half of 2021/22.
The match against the Saints was only the 13th of the league campaign, meaning that in around a third of the season, Salah had used his twinkle toes in the penalty area over twice as often as any other player in the division. It’s worth remembering that by that point he’d scored his wonder goals against Manchester City and Watford, which probably counted for about half of the total.
Being reminded of Salah’s previous record prompted me to check how he has performed in this regard in 2022/23, with the Reds having reached the half-way point of their league program. It turns out he has attempted 14 dribbles in the penalty box this term, a clear downturn on last season.
Still, we know that nobody else had even completed eight when Salah was dazzling defenders with his quick feet a little over a year ago. Has he completed that many? No, the 30-year-old has only been successful with four take-ons in the box so far this season.
Four take-ons in the box, Mohamed? Four? That’s insane.
They have all occurred at Anfield, in wins against Newcastle, Southampton and Leicester as well as in the loss to Leeds. Only one led to a shot, much less a goal, for Salah or a teammate, with the man himself firing wide against Jesse Marsch’s side.
While this data focuses specifically on the penalty area, the drop in dribbling productivity from Liverpool’s number 11 can be seen on a wider scale too. FBref records shot-creating actions, which are the two which occur directly prior to a goal attempt. As well as passes, shots, fouls suffered and defensive actions, it also logs dribbles leading to shots.
Salah has recorded five so far in 2022/23, which is 0.27 per 90 minutes, when his overall average has been 0.53 for the Reds. This is one way in which Luis Díaz has been missed lately, with his 0.59 per 90 this season the best in the squad.
Rather than criticizing the Egyptian, his low figure perhaps says more about the state of his team. He was less productive on this front two seasons ago, the one previous campaign in which the structure of the side also fell apart. Without a solid foundation behind him, perhaps Salah cannot dribble as freely?
It’s yet another attacking issue to throw onto Jürgen Klopp’s in-tray. His favorite playmaker, the counter-press, is not generating anywhere near enough chances for Liverpool this season. Only three teams in the Premier League have won possession in the final 40 meters of the pitch more times (per Opta Analyst), but just four have produced fewer shots from them and only twohave yet to score, when the Reds have done so once.
Salah has enough on his plate at present, as the one remaining member of the club’s famed front three (at least in Roberto Firmino’s absence), entrusted to make the attack tick with relatively new colleagues. It’s understandable if he can’t quite play his natural game. But gliding past opposing defenders more frequently might solve a few problems for him and for Liverpool — the return of Díaz to lift the burden cannot come soon enough.
