Southampton vs Liverpool Preview: Why Salah will again prove Reds need to sort contract issue

 

Mohamed Salah is in the form of his life.  

 

At 32, playing for a new manager in a different system, this just wasn’t supposed to be happening. A drop-off was expected. There was supposed to be an obvious reason as to why Liverpool hadn’t immediately looked to extend his deal as soon as Richard Hughes started in his role as new Sporting Director.  

 

 

Yet here we are in November, Salah is free to talk to clubs in January ahead of a free transfer and there doesn’t appear to be any urgency from the Reds to sort this situation out. Talks are ongoing but, according to Paul Joyce in a report of The Times, those in charge at Anfield are deciding how best to allocate their resources.  

 

They want to retain the services of Salah but they don’t want to do anything that may harm the club finally, both in the short and long-term. Clearly, it isn’t a decision that can be rushed.  

 

The former Roma man hasn’t let the uncertainty over his future impact his game though. He’s playing as though he’s unburdened. He’s averaging a goal or an assist every 67.5 minutes this term across all competitions. It eclipses his average of a goal involvement every 71 minutes during his record-breaking debut campaign on Merseyside during the 2017/18 season.  

 

He was the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to complete the double-double - 10 goals and 10 assists. Salah has the most goal involvements in the Premier League this season (14). Only Erling Haaland (12) has more goals than the Egyptian (8) while Bukayo Saka is the only player in the English top-flight to record most assists (8) than the Liverpool No.11 (6).  

 

The 32-year-old surpassed Theirry Henry’s assists haul and he’s destined to leapfrog the legendary Frenchman in the Premier League goals table this season. Salah also matched Wayne Rooney’s long-standing record of scoring and assisting in the same number of games (36).  

 

 

His WhoScored rating of 7.65 is the second highest in the Premier League this season and he’s only bettered this once. This was during the 2017/18 campaign when he had a WhoScored average rating of 7.69. That shows you the level he’s currently operating at.  

 

He has been impactful this season for the Reds. He always is. But this term has felt different. Salah has shown an even more ruthless side to his game. He knows he won’t always have a 10/10 match but that he’ll always have a moment to make an impact. And he’s making the most of these moments. The one-time Chelsea man acknowledged this recently.  

 

Salah revealed that he was questioned by new Liverpool assistant coach Johnny Heitinga about his performance. His response to the former Everton defender was: "I am not always very good in the game. That’s normal. We are human, but I always try to find a way to change a game. I think some players don’t accept the feeling and keep fighting it. But the most important thing is to try and stay in the game and make a difference."

 

In his 17 appearances this term, Salah has only blanked in four of those. He has a minimum of one goal involvement in six of those matches. He set up the opener for the Reds to kick off the Slot era against Ipswich Town. He was the difference-maker against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored and assisted against Chelsea, netted the equaliser against Arsenal, was the match-winner against Brighton and the game-changer against Aston Villa before the international break.  

 

 

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He’s got at least one goal involvement in each of his last six starts for the Reds. With Liverpool facing bottom-of-the-table Southampton on Sunday, you wouldn’t be surprised to see him extend that run to seven, would you? 

 

The No.11 has a good record against the Saints. To be honest, he has a good record against everyone, doesn't he? He has seven goals and four assists in 11 outings against this weekend’s opponents but he’s not found the back of the net against them in five outings. He’ll want to end that run while extending his positive streak. Every Salah goal involvement just heaps more and more pressure on Liverpool to get his contract sorted.

Southampton vs Liverpool Preview: Why Salah will again prove Reds need to sort contract issue