Salah turns on the style to see off West Ham

 

It could have been a different story had West Ham’s centre-forward Michail Antonio taken an excellent chance on 55 minutes inside the box to put his side ahead with the score still at 0-0, but his shot curled just past the post and Liverpool went on to score three superb goals to certify their dominance and allow us to assert that this was one of the Reds better performances of the season.

Starting with Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri for the benched Roberto Firmino and the injured Sadio Mané, Liverpool were in charge in the first half but rarely threatened. At the other end, Nat Phillips came in for the crocked Joel Matip and coped admirably with the threat of Antonio, a perfect opponent for Liverpool’s reserve centre-half who prefers going up a big target man he can battle rather than a nippier striker, who can beat him with pace or cunning. 

Just after Antonio’s miss, the game took another twist when Curtis Jones just on for the solid James Milner, carried the ball from the half-way line towards the West Ham area, exchanged passes with Gini Wijnaldum, then caressed the ball to Mo Salah, who cut in against Aaron Cresswell and curled the ball past Lukas Fabianski into the top corner of the goal.

Pressing for an equaliser, West Ham gained a corner on the 68th minute. Cleared with his head by Andy Robertson at the near post, the ball came out to Trent Alexander Arnold on the right who made a 60-yard crossfield pass to Shaqiri, who from the half way line, and first-time, looped the ball into the area for the onrushing Salah, who brought the ball down with his weaker right foot and flicked it passed the West Ham keeper into the back of the net to complete a perfect and spectacular counter-attacking goal.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came on for Shaqiri and Robert Firmino for Divock Origi and the two substitutes combined brilliantly in the 84th minute on the edge of the area for Firmino to square the ball to Wijnaldum who had a tap-in to put Liverpool 3-0 up.

Some sloppy defending from a corner on the 88th minute saw centre-half Craig Dawson side-foot a consolation goal for West Ham, but for the last six minutes of the game Liverpool held on to the ball and any suggestion of a late flurry from West Ham amounted to nothing. 

A home game against lowly Brighton – a team Liverpool only drew with earlier in the season – is next up for Liverpool, followed by the big one: leaders Manchester City at Anfield next Sunday. If Liverpool win both these games, then the title race is well and truly back on.

Salah penalty spares Reds' blushes at Fulham

 Jürgen Klopp had warned that Fulham would be no pushovers. “They are a good-looking football team ... like their manager,” said the Liverpool manager. But Scott Parker’s side could consider themselves unlucky not to record a memorable victory in front of their returning supporters.

The champions missed the opportunity to return to the top of the table after Mohamed Salah’s penalty cancelled out Bobby Decordova-Reid’s opening goal. Liverpool had won their past 18 matches against promoted teams and knew that a second away victory of the season would be enough to see them overtake Tottenham, following their draw at Crystal Palace earlier in the day.

But in a lacklustre display against opponents who showed they have the capability to avoid relegation this time around, Klopp was relieved to see his patched-up team escape with a draw.

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Salah strikes early as Reds end Champions League group stage with draw

Mohamed Salah became Liverpool's record Champions League goalscorer as the Reds completed their group-stage campaign with a draw at Midtjylland.

Jurgen Klopp's side were already assured of top spot coming into the game and they began in perfect fashion as Egypt international Salah ran clear and poked home after just 55 seconds.

It was the quickest goal the team had scored in the Champions League and on a night of numerous records for the much-changed visitors, Salah's strike was his 22nd in the competition, surpassing club legend Steven Gerrard.

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Salah tests Covid positive for second time

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has again returned a positive test for coronavirus while on international duty with Egypt.

The 28-year-old initially tested positive last week, despite not displaying any symptoms.

On Wednesday, the Egyptian Football Association confirmed Salah had been tested again and the result was positive.

He is likely to miss the Reds' next two games because of self-isolation rules.

Liverpool host Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday and then Atalanta in a Champions League group match on 25 November.

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Salah commits to Reds

Mohamed Salah says he wants to stay at Liverpool for "a long time" and thinks the club can still "achieve more".

The forward, 28, is the Reds' leading goal scorer this season, playing a key role in the club sealing a first league title for 30 years last week.

The Egyptian joined Liverpool in 2017 and has also won the Champions League and Club World Cup with the Reds.

"I can't describe my feelings after we won the league after 30 years," Salah told BeIN Sports.

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Mo Salah scores stunning free kick for Egypt

🎯 @MoSalah 🎯pic.twitter.com/0zuwcpieNT

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 30, 2019

Salah stunner puts paid to Chelsea

It was an arrow into the top corner of Chelsea’s goal and potentially the hearts of Manchester City from Mohamed Salah. Liverpool cleared the most daunting hurdle remaining in their pursuit of a first league title for 29 years with a flash of genius. Two points clear with four games to go, Jürgen Klopp’s team have piled the pressure on the champions with character and class.

Parallels with the Chelsea game that cost Liverpool the title five years ago ran only as far as a 2-0 scoreline and a slip in possession from Andy Robertson that went unpunished. Otherwise this was a match of joy and release for those in red.

Sadio Mané set Liverpool on course for a seventh successive victory in all competitions with a powerful header early in the second half. Seconds later, 142 seconds later to be precise, Salah sent Anfield wild with perhaps the finest goal of his prolific Liverpool career. His 19th of the season could have major implications for Liverpool’s hopes of a 19th league crown.

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Salah scores two as Reds fight to overcome Crystal Palace

The good news for Manchester City is that Liverpool suddenly look quite vulnerable. They conceded three goals here and ended up with 10 men after James Milner had, almost inevitably, picked up a second yellow for a foul on Wilfried Zaha. The bad news is that they are still winning, even in adverse circumstances. The home side’s 10 men managed what turned out to be the decisive goal when Sadio Mané cut in from the left to score in stoppage time, and even though there was still time for Max Meyer to grab a last-gasp third for the visitors, Liverpool clung on for another three points.

One way or another Crystal Palace have had a big say in the absorbing battle at the top of the Premier League. They halted the City procession by unexpectedly winning at the Etihad before Christmas and they might have pegged Liverpool back here but for their lapses of concentration in defence ruining a promising start. In Manchester Palace mounted a spectacular comeback after going a goal down, scoring twice in quick succession to allow Liverpool to open up a gap at the top of the table. Here they seemed to grow tired of waiting for the league leaders to go in front, so effective was their blanket defence, and after half an hour of comfortably repelling everything Liverpool could throw at them they went upfield to show the home side what a quick and incisive move looks like.

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Salah named African player of the year again

Mohamed Salah has been named African Footballer of the Year for a second successive year.

Salah beat fellow nominees, his Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mané and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, at the Confederation of African Football’s awards ceremony in Dakar on Tuesday. The Egypt forward edged the same two players last year in a vote decided by the technical directors and head coaches of 56 Caf member associations.

“This award is very big for me, I love it because I saw it when I was young and I always had a dream to win it one day,” Salah said. “I’m proud to win it twice, I must thank my family and my teammates, and I dedicate this award to my country, Egypt.”

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Brilliant Salah keeps Reds top of the league

Mohamed Salah inspired Liverpool to a victory at Wolves that took them four points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

The Reds went ahead when Fabinho played a one-two with Sadio Mane and crossed for Salah, who flicked the ball into the net with the outside of his foot.

The Egyptian set up Liverpool's second with a wonderful lofted pass over the home defence, allowing Virgil van Dijk to side-foot a six-yard volley past Rui Patricio.

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Alisson wonder-save puts Reds into Champions League knock-out stages

Perhaps it would be stretching the truth a little to say this victory for Liverpool be remembered among on the list of great European nights here. That, however, is only because the list is already so extensive and the jubilation at the final whistle told its own story. Liverpool had made it through and can be greatly encouraged by the way they handled a potentially treacherous night.

Jürgen Klopp’s team have lost all their three foreign excursions in Group C but they have made it through as runners-up courtesy of Mohamed Salah’s first-half winner on a night when Paris Saint-Germain’s victory against Red Star Belgrade meant the French champions also qualified.

Amid nerve-shredding drama, it needed a brilliant save from Alisson, the Liverpool goalkeeper, to keep out the substitute Arkadiusz Milik in stoppage time but that was a rare opportunity for Napoli and, on the balance of play, it would have been hugely unjust if the home side were denied so late.

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Klopp never doubted Salah form

Jürgen Klopp says he was “not worried for one second” about Mohamed Salah’s form this season but admits both club and player have to learn to deal with the raised levels of expectation that mean the forward’s record-breaking haul in 2017-18 is the yardstick by which he is judged.

Klopp was speaking after Salah scored a brilliant hat-trick in Liverpool’s emphatic 4-0 victory over Bournemouth, taking his league tally for the season into double figures as Liverpool racked up a fifth straight top-flight win and supplanted Manchester City at the top of the table.

It was an exhilarating performance from Salah and prompted the question of whether Klopp smiles when he hears people asking if the 26-year-old has been quite the same player this season. The manager said: “Look, your business [the press] is a difficult one as well – you have to judge always the moment. I’m interested in the moment but I never judge it because the moment is just a little part of all what we do. So I was not for one second worried.

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Salah hat-trick as Reds rout Cherries

The general consensus seems to be that Mohamed Salah has not been quite the same player this season. On this evidence there is nothing to worry about after the striker produced a wonderful individual display that finished with him walking off the pitch with the matchball under his arm.

A brilliant hat-trick was completed in style – Asmir Begovic, the Bournemouth goalkeeper, ended up on his backside, Steve Cook was trailing in Salah’s wake for the umpteenth time and Nathan Aké stood helpless on the line – as Salah flicked the ball into the net with the outside of his left boot.

By that stage the game had already turned into an exercise in damage limitation for Bournemouth, who were entitled to feel aggrieved that Salah’s first goal had been allowed to stand – he strayed into an offside position just before – but could have no complaints about the final outcome after contributing to their own downfall with some desperately poor defending.

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Reds defeat Watford to keep up title challenge

Liverpool have not yet recaptured the spectacular form of last season but they collected a precious win here thanks to three excellent goals. For most of the game the visitors lacked spark but they illuminated proceedings with a brilliant move in the 67th minute that culminated in Mo Salah opening the scoring. Trent Alexander-Arnold added a second with an outstanding free-kick from 25 yards before Roberto Firmino topped off the scoring after a sweeping late counterattack.

Although those goals gave the scoreline an emphatic look and took Liverpool to a better points tally than they have ever had at this stage of a campaign in the club’s illustrious history, they laboured at times here, a fact Jordan Henderson underlined by getting himself sent off for two shoddy tackles on his return from injury.

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Klopp: Salah silences critics

Jurgen Klopp said Mohamed Salah had silenced debate over his form by reaching the 50-goal mark for Liverpool faster than any player in the club’s illustrious history.

Salah hit the half century on his 65th appearance for Liverpool with two goals in the convincing Champions League defeat of Red Star Belgrade. Albert Stubbins, the previous quickest to 50 Liverpool goals, did so in 77 games between 1946-48. Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané also scored against Serbia’s champions as Liverpool’s victory, combined with Paris Saint-Germain’s draw at home to Napoli, sent Klopp’s team top of Group C.

The Egypt forward has come under intense scrutiny during the start of a season in which he had struggled to recapture last term’s phenomenal form. But after his sixth goal of the campaign, and latest Liverpool record, Klopp insisted Salah had delivered an emphatic response.

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Salah goal secures Reds unconvincing win

With this victory Liverpool equalled the 22 points from nine games of 10 seasons ago that is their best in the Premier League era. The good news for Jürgen Klopp’s side is that the cliche of grinding out wins in these circumstances can be evoked after this – they struggled throughout. Yet the manager may be concerned at the lack of midfield stability and a display during which his side often looked to be sleepwalking.

Huddersfield are second-bottom for a reason and it is difficult to imagine Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City struggling against them in a similar way. David Wagner made one change, replacing Rajiv van La Parra with Florent Hadergjonaj as he searched for a first Premier League win this term. Klopp made three adjustments: Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Xherdan Shaqiri replaced Sadio Mané, who was injured, and Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum, who were substitutes. It was Lallana’s first league start since New Year’s Day and Sturridge’s first for 11 months.

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Salah injured playing for Egypt

Liverpool will be sweating on the fitness of Mohamed Salah after he was forced off early in an Egypt match with an apparent muscle injury.

Salah was taken off in stoppage time of Egypt's 4-1 win over Swaziland on Friday night, having gone down to the turf minutes earlier with what appeared to be an issue with his left leg.

Egypt's assistant coach Hany Ramzy did not believe the issue to be serious, telling BeIn Sports: "The initial diagnosis of the Egypt national team medical staff is that Salah suffered a muscular injury, he will be examined to determine the details, but in my opinion it is not dangerous."

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Klopp and Wijnaldum back Salah before Napoli tie

In the oppressive heat of the press room at the Stadio San Paolo, Jürgen Klopp made it very clear he would not join the debate over Mohamed Salah’s form. “Be relaxed, completely relaxed,” was his final piece of advice to the Liverpool striker, having straight-batted several questions on a subject he considers overblown. Gini Wijnaldum then replaced his manager in the press room. “I’ve told Mo he’s got to get more hat-tricks,” said the midfielder. “He’s had enough of scoring twos, he has to get threes.”

As manager, Klopp has to be more careful with public demands of a crucial player and there is certainly foundation to his argument that Salah’s start – so similar to that of last season – would not have attracted so much focus had Liverpool other things to worry about. As things stand they do not: sitting top of their Champions League group going into Wednesday’s game with Napoli, second in the Premier League only on goal difference as they prepare for Sunday’s showdown with Manchester City at Anfield and still unbeaten in the league thanks to Daniel Sturridge’s 89th-minute equaliser at Chelsea on Saturday.

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Van Dijk backs subbed Salah and Henderson

Virgil van Dijk has warned his Liverpool teammates they will have to accept being substituted or sitting out games altogether given the greater squad depth at Anfield, after Mohamed Salah and Jordan Henderson showed their frustration at being withdrawn during the draw with Chelsea on Saturday.

Salah, in particular, endured a frustrating return to Stamford Bridge and was taken off shortly after the hour with the visitors still trailing to Eden Hazard’s first-half goal. While there is no underlying concern at the Egyptian’s form – he boasts three goals in nine club appearances to date this term – among the coaching staff, the reigning player of the year is clearly still easing his way into the campaign, with Jürgen Klopp willing to turn to Daniel Sturridge or Xherdan Shaqiri to freshen up the side’s approach.

Asked if key personnel will have to become accustomed to being replaced, Van Dijk said: “You have to, otherwise you better leave. We all want one thing: to be successful, and we need everyone’s help. It’s a long season with a lot of games. We need everyone and everyone knows that as well, and that’s a big strength for us.

“We are seven games in and Mo’s working hard. He’s still the same Mo, and he needs a bit of luck as well. I’m not worried at all, and he should not be worried either. We do it all together, we’ll always be there for him and he’ll deliver as well. He had a tough game against Chelsea, but it’s part of football.”

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Klopp backs Salah to find scoring form

Jürgen Klopp offered his support to Mohamed Salah after substituting him in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Chelsea, and backed the reigning footballer of the year to overcome his first difficult spell since joining the club.

Klopp, who replaced the Egyptian with Xherdan Shaqiri just before the midway point of the second half, acknowledged that Salah had fallen below his usual standards and said he could not understand some of the player’s decision-making in dangerous areas of the pitch.

“It’s always tactical,” Klopp said of his decision to remove the player. “He was not injured. I know you will make a fuss of it, but that’s football. It was not the best game of Mo’s career, that’s 100%. But coming into a game like this, constantly in [potentially scoring] situations, that makes him a world-class player. You fail, you miss, that happens – I’ve no problem with that. But he wants to be decisive. He wants to score in these situations."

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