Shearer says Liverpool have a player who can ‘pull brilliance from nowhere’ despite ‘pretty awful’ start

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Alan Shearer loved one moment from Mohamed Salah after he had an ‘awful’ start for Liverpool against Manchester City. The Egyptian stepped up with an assist.

Liverpool went to the Etihad Stadium yesterday knowing a win would be massive in the title race. To get that win, though, they knew Mohamed Salah had to deliver – he is, after all, their star forward.

But there was a pretty clear problem, then. Salah hadn’t actually scored from open play since February 19th. He only had one assist since then, too. The Egyptian isn’t in particularly good form.

Jurgen Klopp stuck with him, though, and Salah started from the right against Manchester City. It’s a good job he did as the 29-year-old delivered a wonderful assist for Liverpool’s second goal.

The Reds pushed City high immediately from kick-off after halftime. Trent Alexander-Arnold found himself with the ball on the flank and played it inside for Salah. He controlled it, turned and produced a fantastic pass to put Sadio Mané in on goal. The no.10 finished and the game was 2-2.

It was, as Alan Shearer put it, brilliance.

Mohamed Salah shines for Liverpool

“At half-time, I looked at some of Mohamed Salah’s numbers: no shots, no crosses, no dribbles completed, and far too many examples of giving up possession,” he wrote for the Athletic. “By his own standards, he was pretty awful.

“And then he comes onto the pitch and shapes the perfect pass that sets up the equaliser. Greats like Salah can never be written off and it’s only a matter of time before he gets back on the goal trail.

“He can pull brilliance from nowhere.”

We had to pick Salah out after the game. As Shearer points out, he struggled from a goalscorer’s perspective and finished with only one shot at goal.

But he found ways to influence the game. No one created more chances than the Egyptian, one of which was an assist, and only Bernardo Silva won more tackles. Even when Salah isn’t scoring – his bread and butter – he’s a massive threat to even the best teams around.

That’s the sign of a truly sensational player.