And Szoboszlai response:
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Heās never won the Inaugural The Anfield Noise Poster of the Year Award (non-football) though, has he?
Iād bet heād give up all those trophies for that honour.
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Just lifted my post from the Arne Slot thread.
I feel the remaining matches in the CL are actually the swan song for MO and his remaining time at Anfield. Playing him each PL game in the meantime, to me anyway, is just a way of keeping his engine ticking over. It is also a show of respect from the club, to one of its greatest players ever, for everyone can see, his present form wouldnāt/shouldnāt warrant a starting berth.
For the benefit of both parties he should leave in the summer. If he remains, and it is predominately his choice, then the loyalty of fans will be severely tested each and every time he has a bad game.
He hasnāt been in good form this season but I look at our best performances (not many obviously - 5 or 6 games) and I think Mo was very good to excellent. I donāt think itās a coincidence that when we play to get the best out of the squad we look good and so do the players.
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I think the same could be said of a few players.
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He still has another year so the ball is very much in Salahās court. It really depends what he wants.
All the club can do is be very clear and firm with Mo on his position in the team. We canāt be falling into the sunk costs fallacy of thinking just because weāve put money on him we have to play him.
He canāt expect to be first choice. And he canāt expect the team to built around him.
If he wants to find a club where he can continue to be the main man, then good luck to him.
(As an aside, I think Mo could find some joy playing as a ten. His days as a winger are done, but he still has brilliant feet and an eye for a pass)
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No chance, it takes much more in both directions than having a few more assists off the right in last years to be a #10 for a team that wants to compete and win at the biggest stages.
Thatās just not his game.
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Iām on about when Wirtz isnāt avsilable.
There are other players.
In general, I donāt see Salah as a #10, especially at the top level or a team that wants to get back to the top level.
We rarely saw Salah as a striker, #10 would be even harder or less imaginable.
Iām struggling with this. His pass completion has at times been awful. Even against Wolves the other night, 3 on 1 breakaway and Salah passed it to the one.
As a genuine 10 that produces every time they get the ball then no chance. As a 10 that pulls out some crazy once per game, then maybe.
Thereās not much you can do with his position or role. We can play with his positioning whether heās a bit more inside or a bit wider on the right. But that can change from action to action, if thereās good cohesion with nearby players. We lost a key player behind him.
When he used to play up front (which Klopp said he didnāt like), it was being part of a front two, in which of course he would be the highest positioned. Same for Egypt. Thereās no way heās gonna suddenly become a #10, which is essentially an attacking midfielder/second striker. You can (try) do that with Messi like Argentina did and even then thereās a question about balance. But not Salah.
Thatās speaking for the top level, but I bet itāll be the same if he goes to Saudi. Heās not gonna go away from the goal. Both the player and whoeverās coaching staff will try to maximize his best qualities to keep providing end product as a right winger, right wide forward or right sided striker in a two and find the right defensive balance.
Heās too much of an offensive minded player to be that deep and that central. Itās a totally different game, what you need to do in and out of possession and in all phases of the game.
And the days of luxury/final ball type of #10ās are long behind us. And even then, there of different type to Mo.
Well, we can see the writing on the wall:
Begone, Gakpo, begone.
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Agree with Zoran, no way is Mo good enough to play a 10 role he gives away possession needlessly.
If he doesnāt want to leave in the summer, then we have to find a way of using him. That canāt be off the wing anymore.
If we tell him he can look for an option, perhaps he wonāt push to stay. Then it would be down to us to negotiate an acceptable fee. Especially since he already said if he didnāt stay, Saudi (and they will be looking for some big names this summer) was already an option. This is one that could be resolved easier than I thought when he signed his new deal. If both the club judges and the player is ready to move a year before 2027, it could be done in a respectful manner.
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He is a one-trick passer. Most of his assist is curling to the far post; otherwise, he is very limited in passing range. one of the most frustrated when he watches himself play is his useless right foot. Thereās no way that kind of player could play as a number 10.
Thatās my hope. Mo has a respectful goodbye at the end of the season and feels the love. That is right and fitting. Ideally it is with some silverware.
Behind the scenes the club would hopefully have been straight with him, after the pre-AFCON fallout - we are looking to buy a new winger in the summer and you will be a rotational option if you choose to stay next season.
So Salah decides to move on, dignity and honor intact, and we negotiate a fee with the Saudis, but not a massively inflated fee, as there are not many clubs who are going to pay Salahās wages. Mo will get his signing bonus for the Saudis, plus a huge salary, and we will get a decent-but-modest fee to reinvest into the side and we all move on.