The Statistics – If you listen to certain people Mohamed Salah is having a slow start to his second season as a Liverpool player.
The Egypt international’s astonishing debut campaign at Anfield saw him shatter a number of records en route to a 44-goal haul that saw him clinch both the PFA and FWA Footballer of the Year awards.
@MoSalah I cannot thank you enough mo.. Brought my lad to tears (and me)…. These are moments in life that hold more value than i can explain.. A day my son Lewis will never forget @LFC pic.twitter.com/8h1h8z0ens
— Wayne dunlop (@BiggyAL1981) September 22, 2018
Salah was the record goalscorer for a 38-game Premier League season having scored 32 times in the top flight and fired the Reds to a top-four finish and a Champions League final to boot.
Following on from the otherworldly performance of last season was always going to be difficult.
However, there are some who would have you believe Salah is nowhere near the gold standard he produced on a weekly basis last season, despite him playing a part in a Liverpool side that has soared to the top of the Premier League with six consecutive victories report the Liverpool Echo.
A little bit of scrutiny suggests such theories are well wide of the mark.
After six games for Liverpool in the Premier League last time out, the £36.9m signing from Roma had scored four times, finding the net against Watford, Arsenal, Burnley, and Leicester.
Salah’s paltry contribution after as many games this term?
Three.
The jet-heeled Egypt star has carved out as many as seven ‘big chances’ too to place him first in the Premier League, while also enjoying the most touches in the opposition box across the division with 52.
He has rifled in as many as 16 shots and completed 14 dribbles to see him come in at third in both categories in the top flight, and he also sits sixth for goals scored from the ‘big chances’ he has created.
Sadio Mane may be Liverpool’s top scorer so far, but Salah is just one behind the Senegal wideman who has enjoyed a blistering start to his own campaign.
Salah was so unlucky not to join Mane at the top of the tree against Southampton on Saturday when his improvised back-heel rolled just wide after he had earlier tapped home Xherdan Shaqiri’s free-kick to make it 3-0.
Supporters only need to cast their minds back just shy of 12 months to see it was October when Salah really lit the blue touch paper on his Liverpool career.
The 7-0 win at Maribor on October 17 was the catalyst for a remarkable run in front of goal for the electric forward as he netted 17 goals in as many games which took him up until December 30.
If this is a below-par Salah, imagine what will happen when he rediscovers his touch.
