Mohamed Salah struggled for Liverpool vs Wolves on Saturday afternoon – a real rarity this season. The Egyptian still managed to make the magic happen, however.
Mohamed Salah has been, pretty unquestionably, the standout player in England this season. There’s a real case that he’s been the standout player in the world – though, Karim Benzema would have something to say.
Regardless of what you think with that, there’s no doubt that Salah has been Liverpool’s key player. They’ve turned to him not only for goals but assists – he leads the Premier League in both right now.
So when Liverpool went to Molineux to face Wolves, Salah was their go-to once again. Things just didn’t quite work out as they usually do.
Wolves defended wonderfully well vs Liverpool. They sat very deep, stayed compact and forced the Reds into poor passes and poor decisions. They rode their luck at times – Diogo Jota should have scored at least twice – but on the whole, Wolves kept Liverpool quiet.
A lot of that was down to how well they handled Salah. In fact, no team has come close to this kind of success against the Egyptian this season.
Wolves mute Liverpool & Salah
Wolves set up with a 3-4-3 against Liverpool. That meant they had a left wing-back covered by a left-centre-back and a left-winger all down that one side. It made Salah’s night difficult as they quickly swarmed him whenever he got the ball.
We can some that up in one stat – Wolves dispossessed Salah 10 times in this game (per Whoscored). Rayan Aït-Nouri finished the game with eight tackles of his own whilst up against the Premier League’s most dangerous player.
It should surprise no one that this was the most any team has dispossessed Salah. Crystal Palace came closest, with seven tackles up against him. They also conceded six shots to him, however, and he scored in a 3-0 win.
Wolves limited the Liverpool star to just two shots and it, of course, took a stoppage-time winner to finally undo them.
In a sign of his brilliance, though, Salah was instrumental in that.
Salah helps put down Wolves
With 93 minutes on the clock, Virgil van Dijk fired a sweeping pass out to Salah on the right flank. He controlled it before bursting past his man and into Wolves’ area as Liverpool moved forward.
Salah managed to pause briefly and found Divock Origi with his back to goal. The Belgian applied the wonderful finishing touches for the win.
You just can’t keep Salah down for long. Even on a day when Wolves had his number like none other, he still forced a goal with his ninth Premier League assist of the season.
A sensational player who is absolutely unstoppable right now.
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