Brentford defender Ben Mee has admitted that Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah surprised him with his sheer strength.
Mee has faced Salah in the Premier League with Brentford as well as previous club Burnley. And speaking via Football Daily before Liverpool’s 6-1 win over Leeds last night, the 33-year-old shared what makes playing against the Egyptian such a nightmare.
“He’s a fantastic player, he’s probably one of the best I’ve played against, well, he’s definitely one of the best I’ve played against,” said Mee. “He works so hard for his team as well which I love about him. He’s so difficult to defend against one-on-one – he goes both ways.”
Asked about dealing with Salah’s strength, the Brentford centre-back admitted that he initially had no idea just what the Reds forward was capable of.
“I remember the first time I played against him, I went in for a block tackle with him and didn’t realise how literally strong he was. It really surprised me, I didn’t take him too lightly after that!” he claimed.
Salah shows his strength
Looking at Salah, you can understand why someone like Mee would underestimate his physicality. The big centre-back probably thought the little wiry winger would be an easy push-over.
But that’s part of what makes Mo such a difficult prospect for a defender to deal with. Mee won’t have been the only one surprised by how easily the 30-year-old can battle with even the strongest of opponents.
On top of that is his obvious skill and technique. Truly, there are many ways Mohamed Salah can hurt you, but not many routes to stopping him.
This tumultuous season has been a good little window into that. Despite the Reds sitting in a lowly eighth place and having been dreadful for much of the season, Salah has still managed to rise to the top.
His two superb strikes against Leeds last night put him on 26 goals in all competitions for the season. Somehow, even with Liverpool at their lowest, their Egyptian King has managed to plunder a brilliant amount of goals.
Even with all the accolades though, there will be some out there who insist on underrating and underestimating him. As Mee found out though, they’ll do so at their own peril.