Is Mohamed Salah the world’s most consistent goalscorer? A recent data analysis suggests he very well might be.
The Athletic recently studied data covering the world’s 15 best goalscorers. One of those is Mohamed Salah, of course, and the Liverpool star comes out of it incredibly well.
They were looking at consistency and not necessarily how prolific a striker is. In terms of pure goals, the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappe are virtually untouchable but they’re not necessarily consistent.
The two play for teams that utterly dominate in their leagues and that appears to have an effect. The duo reaches incredible highs but also have plenty of games where they’re not too involved.
Lewandowski, for instance, will go many games a season where he doesn’t have many non-penalty chances. Then he’ll follow that up with a ridiculous xG number that entire teams struggle to match with any reliability.
Mbappe is very similar – it’s perhaps a sign that the two aren’t entirely engaged in certain games. Or perhaps they know they don’t need too many chances to score against particular teams.
Either way, it’s in stark contrast to Salah.
Mohamed Salah as a goalscorer
It won’t surprise many Liverpool fans to learn that Salah is wonderfully consistent. In fact, he’s more consistent than any other elite goalscorer.
No player shows more consistency with their xG or has a lower spread between their peaks and lows. Salah offers you pretty much the exact same result in every game.
And that’s a wonderful trait to have. Salah rarely has the kind of off-night where he isn’t involved – the Egyptian is always getting opportunities to score goals.
Perhaps he doesn’t ever get as many as Mbappe or Lewandowski but he’s as reliable as it gets. No matter who the opponent is, you get the same Salah with best-in-the-world reliability.
That makes him fantastic to work with. Liverpool can build their attack around the 29-year-old and know he’ll deliver. Maybe not with the same clinical finish every night but with the right runs and movement.
Salah will consistently get into the same spaces and Liverpool can plan accordingly. That, of course, does translate to incredible goalscoring that makes him one of the world’s best.