There was only one glimpse of goal for Mohamed Salah on this uncomfortable trip to Craven Cottage, and the Egyptian produced an erratic finish that was entirely in keeping with his team’s performance. With the finish line in sight, Liverpool’s legs are starting to wobble — and no player looks quite as jaded as the leader of their attack.
Sunday’s meeting with Fulham brought about Liverpool’s third defeat in four matches in all competitions, and was the seventh consecutive club game in which Salah has been unable to score from open play. There can be no doubt that his form is dipping.
You could argue, of course, that Salah has done the hard work already. If he completes this campaign without another goal or assist, he will still have 27 goals and 17 assists in the league.
Those numbers are proof of an astonishingly successful individual season. But for Salah, perhaps more than any other Liverpool player, it matters how this campaign ends. It matters how he performs, how he shines and how he leads his team.
Why? For two reasons. The first is his pursuit of the various ‘player of the year’ awards, and the Ballon d’Or especially. At this rate, the 32-year-old might just be at risk of playing himself out of contention, if he has not already done so in the battle for the Ballon d’Or. Liverpool’s Champions League exit to Paris St-Germain was hugely damaging in that regard.
The second reason is his contractual situation. For much of this campaign, the accepted argument from the wider world is that Liverpool should give Salah a lucrative new deal as reward for his performances.
But, as Liverpool’s executives know as well as any in Europe, new contracts should not be a prize for past showings. They are instead a projection of future performance. It is not about what Salah has done this season, but what he is doing now — and what he will do next.
On that front, these last few weeks will not have strengthened Salah’s hand in negotiations. After disappointing performances against PSG in the Champions League and Newcastle United in the League Cup final, Salah came to Craven Cottage and found himself unable to find a way past the excellent Calvin Bassey, the dominant force in an impressively organised Fulham team.
There was just one shot for Salah, which was spooned over the bar as Liverpool chased the game, and 19 occasions on which he lost possession. According to the statisticians at Opta, Salah competed in eight duels and won only one. Bassey, by contrast, won six of his eight duels.
Arne Slot jumped to Salah’s defence. “Maybe he should take it as a compliment [that people are talking about it] because his numbers weren’t normal [when he was scoring],” said the Liverpool head coach. “The good thing about Mo is that he knows what kind of player he is. Mo ...
