Mo Salah
ARTICLE BY SUPERSUB
Well, some of you might see this as a sneaky attempt to get a conversation about Sadio Mane started. I mean, it works the other way around, so maybe this is the best way to do it…?
Nah, this is about Mo. These are just my observations & opinions and if they differ from yours, then that’s fine. I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion here (that’s a complete waste of time for a start), whilst at the same time you’re probably not gonna change mine. The ‘Mo Issue(s)’ has/have been ongoing for a long, long time now & opinions are firmly entrenched. So be it. This is just my own personal take on things.
Basically, this is just gonna be mainly pro-Mo propaganda. If you’re firmly of the view that Mo is a greedy twat, who’s more concerned about his own individual achievements above those of the team, then there’s not gonna be a lot here for ya tbh.
Starting off with the obvious (well to most of us anyway). Mo Salah is one of the best football players that this club has ever had. His record speaks for itself. Goals & assists galore. One season wonder, my 4rse. I’m not gonna bog this down with stats & numbers, but they’re all out there & available. Having said that, he also attracts an awful of of criticism and, in some instances, outright abuse, which seems (imo) to be totally disproportionate to his output. One of the best players that this club has ever had, who’s also a genuinely decent human being & he is often treated like a pariah.
All I wanna do here, is to go through a few of the (very) common criticisms that Mo gets & give my own take on them. Again, if any of these is your particular favourite, then I’m not trying to change your mind here & it’s gonna have to be an ‘agree to disagree’ moment really. There’s nothing personal in any of this, just summat that might not agree with what you think.
The first one is, to me, the most obvious. Mo gets an awful lot of criticism & abuse for being ‘selfish’ & ‘greedy’ in front of goal. I’m of the opinion that this all started, after the ‘confrontation’ with Mane at Burnley a while back. We were cruising to victory that day & Mo hadn’t got on the scoresheet yet & so he tried to do what he’d done numerous times before, score a goal from just inside the penalty area. People took sides that day & for me, it was the beginning of the ‘Mo is greedy’ mob who, these days, form a sizeable proportion of our online ‘support’ & was the day that ‘confirmation bias’ really started to kick in.
Mo Salah is greedy in front of goal;
Mo vs Mane. For me, this is where a lot of the ‘greedy/selfish’criticisms of Mo stem from.
31st August 2019. Away to Burnley. 3-0 to the reds.
We all saw this. Mo doesn’t pass to Mane. Mo doesn’t score & Mane throws a hissy fit for all the world to see. Social media explodes. BOOM.
I don’t remember too many ‘Mo is greedy’ comments before this (?), but the fan base was certainly split on this one. For me, this one is entirely on Sadio Mane. If you watch the replay of this, Mane is onside as the ball comes to Mo but, by the time Mo has the ball under his control………
That’s close, looks offside to me. But many didn’t let that get in the way of having a dig at Mo.
Greedy Mo. There was definitely a split in the fan base after this & I believe that, following this game, many started to look out for instances when they thought that Mo should’ve passed the ball, instead of having an attempt on goal. This is where confirmation bias starts to kick in & we’re all guilty of that at times. It’s human nature to look for things that confirm our own opinions.
We all do it, with no exceptions.
As stated earlier, this is where a lot of the ‘Mo vs Mane’ narrative first started, with many people siding with Mane, because Mo was greedy & should’ve passed to him. Every single person who thought that, got it wrong in my opinion. Mo was perfectly entitled to shoot from there in the first place (especially given the context of the game) & Mane was offside anyway.
Case closed on that one really.
This was written shortly after that Burnley game & makes a lot of sense.
‘Is Mohamed Salah’s individualism hurting Liverpool? Far from it’
As an aside, Sadio is offside a LOT. Joint 2nd in the PL last season for offsides with Ollie Watkins (31), behind only Jamie Vardy with 36. The next LFC player was Mo with 13 offsides.
Dunno if this is a reason that sometimes he doesn’t get the passes that he thinks he should do, but there’s a possibility of that I guess. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sadio, but he is offside a LOT.
How many goals/points has that cost us, compared to Mo having a shot from the edge of the box (a position he’s scored from numerous times)..?
Mo vs Diaz. Liverpool vs Spurs (H). 1-1- draw.
This is a more recent one, that sent social media into yet another frenzy of ‘Mo is still greedy’ hysteria. Didn’t see a whole lot of it on here, not for this particular incident anyway, but this is just one example out of many.
Mo didn’t pass to Diaz. Mo didn’t score. Mo is selfish & greedy.
Here’s the freeze-frame from that particular ‘incident’ with just two questions (out of many) that I can think of.
- Is LD actually in a better position than Mo to score from…? Very debatable to me
- How many times have we seen Mo score from this kind of position…??
Bearing in mind that any such decisions by players are made in split-seconds, in the heat of top flight football match & they don’t have the luxury of slow-motion replays & the ability to ‘freeze’ the action like this. Here’s just an example of the kind of comments that this one attracted on social media.
“Salah’s selfishness is beyond repair. He wants every goal to come from his side. Very annoying,”
“Salah knows Ronaldo is catching up to him (number of goals). I don’t believe when he says most important thing is three points or the team wins, he has his own agenda it seems.“
My thoughts about those comments…? Complete & utter misinformed, knee-jerk, confirmation biased bollocks.
There’s just loads of instances like this, far too many to detail here, but I’ll be fair & try to provide a balance here. Is Mo ‘greedy’..? Hell yes. Of course he is at times. He’s a goalscorer, he wants to score goals & if he wasn’t ‘greedy’ for doing that, then he’s a waste of space. That’s what he’s paid to do & that’s what he’s good at. He’s not too shabby with his assists either tbf.
It often reminds me of a young player we had once, who had a terrible time in his first season here.
He could hardly score. The ability was there, but it was all going wrong on the pitch and, in all honesty, most of us thought he was useless & wasn’t gonna make it here. Bob Paisley pulled him to one side at training one day & asked him if he wanted to stay at Liverpool or leave. He said that he wanted to stay. Bob then told him that the only way that was gonna happen, was if he started being more ‘greedy’ & ‘selfish’ in front of goal, so that’s what he did. He attempted more shots than he usually did & he started scoring goals, lots of goals. Being ‘greedy’ in front of goal helped him to become a bona fide Liverpool legend & our all time leading goal scorer. A record that looks virtually impossible for anyone to ever break, given the way things are today.
So yes, Mo is ‘greedy’, all goal scorers are, but he gets an awful lot of abuse on social media for this.
Can anybody convince me that social media feedback has no impact on players, outside of ‘well it shouldn’t coz he’s a professional’ kinda thing…? I’m serious on this one. Can anyone provide clear evidence that shows that footballers are not affected by what’s said about them online…??
This would make a cracking article & would have the added benefit of showing that those who abuse players online have no culpability, when it comes to any negative aspects of a players performance.
Like many others, I’ve been watching Mo very closely this season, but with a different focus than those who are watching to see if he’s ‘greedy’ at any stage, so they can dive instantly into social media & let the world know what they’ve just seen. They’ve been right all along. ‘Did you see that shot by Mo. What was he thinking..? He should’ve passed there. See, I told you he was greedy & that proves it’
I’ve been watching to see if there’s any times that Mo attempts a pass, when he could, quite conceivably, have made an attempt on goal. The average, from what I’ve seen, is about 5 or 6 times in each game. Mo attempts a pass, when he was in a position that he’s previously scored from I’m well aware that my own confirmation bias may be at play here, but this is what I’ve seen & I trust my own judgement here. Maybe he’s taken heed of all the online critics, realised he’s greedy & is now trying to make amends…?? Wait, hang on, Mo isn’t scoring as often now, let’s have a go at him for that instead….🙄
There’s always someone that’ll say things like, “But what about that chance against XYZ’ or whoever. It’s actually difficult at times to defend players from criticism, coz there’s always incidents that people will use ‘back up’ the criticism & they get wheeled out time after time. Fair enough, but just from a personal perspective, I’d rather be positive about our players than negative. Mo is greedy, Hendo isn’t good enough to play for us, Trent is crap at defending, Milner is too old, Bobby is past it etc etc etc etc. There’ll be examples that people will point to to back all of these up.
I see the same incidents that everyone else sees but, using the Mo/mane incident at Burnley as a prime example… How much criticism/abuse did Mo get following that…?? ALL of it was unwarranted. Sometimes we just see what we want or expect to see. All of us, no exceptions.
I’ve had at least one discussion where, several hours after it ending in an ‘agree to disagree’, the other person has come back with a couple of quotes that they’ve found from some obscure pundits, that back up what they’ve been saying. See, they were right all along. It took them a lot of time & effort, but it was worth it, coz that player did make a mistake & they were right about it all along.
I’ll withhold my opinion on that behaviour, as it’s way before the watershed.
There’s seems to be a conveyor belt of criticisms about Mo, that gets churned out practically every time he plays & there’s a flip side to each & every one of them
‘He tries to dribble too much’ — That’s how he scores some of his world class goals against the likes of city, spurs, everton etc.
‘He’s lost his goal scoring touch’ — He’s actually trying to pass more often these days.
He tries a shot & misses & he should’ve passed. He tries to pass more & his ‘output is down’.
He’s not a team player — Just bollocks to that one. Not worth even bothering with imo.
Should I Stay Or Should I Go…?
And so we come to the latest in the ‘let’s have a pop at Mo’ saga.
I have to say that, in my honest opinion, I believe that some of the abuse that Mo has received lately on this matter, is BY FAR the most disproportionate of any that I’ve seen given to any LFC player, when compared with what they’ve actually done for the club Even El Hadj Diouf got it lightly in comparison.
What do any of us know…?? As in actually know. For certain. Not much tbh. But once again, the slightest mention of it in the media & all gloves are off. Mo is a pariah & he should just ‘f*ck off’, the greedy, selfish twat. What’s he actually said…? I mean by quote, not by what’s been inferred by many ‘pundits’ & social media users. What has Mo actually said that tells us that he’s playing the club for fools…? Please, I’m serious here. Help me to understand. His words only mind, not what any interpretation might be from anyone else.
Honestly…?? The interviews. I get that to a certain extent. I believe that he (or any other player) shouldn’t be giving interviews like the one’s he does, especially during the season, but what’s actually happening here..?
I’ve got Mo pegged as one of the most likeable, humble, honest human beings that we’ve ever had at the club, and one of the most talented players that we’ve ever had the pleasure & privilege to watch in a Liverpool shirt. He’s just (to me anyway) a really nice bloke, with an extraordinary talent.
I also think he’s naïve in many ways & maybe sometimes too eager to please those around him (including journalists) & I believe he says things that he thinks the interviewer wants to hear That wouldn’t happen if he stopped doing them & I’ll gladly join in the cries for him to shut up & stay away from these situations.
In the background tho, we (probably) have an agent/advisor who’s scurrying around trying to make a much money as he can from Mo. This might even be his last chance for that & maybe running out his contract & taking a % of whatever wages Mo gets from another club, might just be his best option right now.
He (probably) doesn’t care if it causes any discord at the club. He (probably) doesn’t care if it sets fans against each other & a ‘Mo must go’ brigade start poking their heads above the parapet, he just (probably) wants as much money as he can get from his favourite cash-cow & maybe Mo actually believes everything this guy says to him & is eager to please him accordingly. They’ve known each other for quite a while now & are very close personally too by all accounts. Mo trusts him implicitly.
I have to be honest here & own up to summat. I have no idea whatsoever if Mo is trying to manipulate the club, in an attempt to further his own ends above anything else. I have no idea whatsoever if Mo is stringing us along & is only interested in getting as much money as he can, before his playing career tails off. None. Not a clue. But guess what…?? Neither has anyone else.
Nobody reading this knows either, it’s all just speculation based on hearsay.
I’m just of the opinion that, with a lack of concrete evidence to the contrary, I give the player the benefit of the doubt. There’s nothing to be gained from any other response really.
As things stand, I hope Mo goes……now, this summer. His position here is becoming untenable in many ways and, speaking from a personal pov, I’m dreading next season & seeing all the comments starting up yet again. ‘Look, he should’ve passed’. ‘Why does he try to dribble..?’ ‘Told ya, he”s selfish & greedy’ on & on & on ad nauseum.
There’s So much to say on this, but it’d turn into the longest article 4KK has ever & had & who wants to plough through all that…??
Funny tho in a way, a common thought recently, is that people are fed up hearing about Mo. Sadio (apparently) is fed up hearing about Mo. Supporters are fed up hearing about Mo. It’s all Mo, Mo, Mo & Sadio is pissed off with this apparently, supporters are pissed off with it apparently, coz all the attention in the media is on Mo.
Stu’s recent article was about Sadio Mane & who was the main topic of conversation…?
Maybe it’s not just the media who blow things up out of all proportion. Just saying.
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