Roy Keane left no doubt over his true opinion on Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah. The Irishman was speaking during the Community Shield.
It’s safe to say that Roy Keane rates Mohamed Salah very, very highly. The former Manchester United captain did punditry for ITV during the Community Shield on Saturday – a match in which Salah started brightly.
The Egyptian looked incredibly sharp throughout the opening stages and was unfortunate not to score. In fact, he could have had a couple on another day but his finishing just let him down a touch. It’s the kind of thing we imagine Salah will quickly fix once the proper season is underway.
But Salah certainly looks up for the campaign and sharper than he ended the last one. After all, the no.11 wasn’t quite at his best over the final months of the season – or at least, things weren’t falling for him as they had.
His start to the game was enough that Roy Keane was absolutely raving about him at half-time.
Roy Keane gives his opinion on Salah
“He’s a brilliant player, he’s outstanding,” said Keane. “There was never a doubt about his professionalism, I think the contract is now put to bed.
“Quality player, we’re seeing it there. He’s fantastic.”
Keane famously isn’t the easiest to impress, so this is a pretty glowing review for Salah. Not that he’s saying anything we don’t know, of course.
But the key part is that we were seeing just how good Salah is early on in the Community Shield. It does suggest that he’s ready to kick this season off in style and Liverpool will need that.
As Pep Lijnders recently said, the World Cup effectively makes this campaign about ‘two sprints’. Liverpool need to start the campaign rapidly and likely end it rapidly, too. Salah being at his best is effectively the only way the Reds can do that.
Fortunately, he looks ready to go.
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