Liverpool continue to be linked with a January transfer move for FC Basel star Mohamed Salah, and it appears that the Reds are firm favourites to sign the exciting 21-year old attacker.
If the last two Premier League defeats prove anything, it's that Liverpool still lack incisive attacking option in the final third, especially players who can produce the goods against the best defences in the league.
Well, after months of speculation, one of the UK's biggest betting companies, Skybet, have suspended betting on the possibility of Salah signing for the Reds before February 1st 2014:
The story so far:
* Oct 28: The Daily Mail claims: "Liverpool are rivalling Tottenham for FC Basel winger Mohamed Salah".
* Nov 29: Salah indirectly dismissed the possibility of a move to Anfield. When asked about his future, he told Sky Sports: "I want to play for one of the best teams in the world. My favourites are Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea."
* Dec 7: Salah's agent spotted at Anfield for the West Ham home game.
* Dec 13: The Daily Mail reports: "Liverpool are poised to make a £12million bid for Mohamed Salah. [The Reds] have been trailing the Egyptian for over six months. If Rodgers gives the go-ahead for an official bid, they are likely to get their man"
* Dec 25: The Mirror reports: "Liverpool are close to agreeing a [deal] for Mohamed Salah, who has indicated he wants a move to Anfield. Brendan Rodgers is keen to land the striker who can play in any one of the front three roles in his system, or play behind a centre forward"
With 17 goals in 26 games for the Egypt national team, Egypt's American coach Bob Bradley is convinced that Salah is destined for big things. He told reporters in September:
“Salah is the future of Egyptian football. He is a perfect professional player both on and off the pitch, and he will play a great role in guiding us to the World Cup finals.”
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is also a fan, and after the Blues' recent defeat to Basel, he enthused:
"They [Basel] were very difficult to play against, and he [Salah] is a very good player, and very fast too.”
In early December, the Swiss football federation named Salah as the 'best player in the league' for 2013. During the ceremony, the official presenting the award called Salah a 'superhero for Basel’s supporters'.
Salah looks like a good player, but does he have the physical strength to make an impact in England? Coutinho - a similar player to Salah in terms of stature and style - started off well for Liverpool, but he is increasingly being outmuscled and outfought in the Premier League, and his specific, measurable impact on games is tailing off as a result.
Would Salah have made the difference against Chelsea and Manchester City? Personally, I doubt it. Okay, he played well against Chelsea in the Champions League, but the Premier League is a totally different proposition.
Author: Jaimie K
If the last two Premier League defeats prove anything, it's that Liverpool still lack incisive attacking option in the final third, especially players who can produce the goods against the best defences in the league.
Well, after months of speculation, one of the UK's biggest betting companies, Skybet, have suspended betting on the possibility of Salah signing for the Reds before February 1st 2014:
The story so far:
* Oct 28: The Daily Mail claims: "Liverpool are rivalling Tottenham for FC Basel winger Mohamed Salah".
* Nov 29: Salah indirectly dismissed the possibility of a move to Anfield. When asked about his future, he told Sky Sports: "I want to play for one of the best teams in the world. My favourites are Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea."
* Dec 7: Salah's agent spotted at Anfield for the West Ham home game.
* Dec 13: The Daily Mail reports: "Liverpool are poised to make a £12million bid for Mohamed Salah. [The Reds] have been trailing the Egyptian for over six months. If Rodgers gives the go-ahead for an official bid, they are likely to get their man"
* Dec 25: The Mirror reports: "Liverpool are close to agreeing a [deal] for Mohamed Salah, who has indicated he wants a move to Anfield. Brendan Rodgers is keen to land the striker who can play in any one of the front three roles in his system, or play behind a centre forward"
With 17 goals in 26 games for the Egypt national team, Egypt's American coach Bob Bradley is convinced that Salah is destined for big things. He told reporters in September:
“Salah is the future of Egyptian football. He is a perfect professional player both on and off the pitch, and he will play a great role in guiding us to the World Cup finals.”
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is also a fan, and after the Blues' recent defeat to Basel, he enthused:
"They [Basel] were very difficult to play against, and he [Salah] is a very good player, and very fast too.”
In early December, the Swiss football federation named Salah as the 'best player in the league' for 2013. During the ceremony, the official presenting the award called Salah a 'superhero for Basel’s supporters'.
Salah looks like a good player, but does he have the physical strength to make an impact in England? Coutinho - a similar player to Salah in terms of stature and style - started off well for Liverpool, but he is increasingly being outmuscled and outfought in the Premier League, and his specific, measurable impact on games is tailing off as a result.
Would Salah have made the difference against Chelsea and Manchester City? Personally, I doubt it. Okay, he played well against Chelsea in the Champions League, but the Premier League is a totally different proposition.
Author: Jaimie K
just heard Tello to Lfc on loan in January
ReplyDeleteI want as many mids as we can get...good mids that is. Sick of agonising over what one injury can do to the whole team. Last 2 games have proved that good reinforcements= good title challenge. Don't know much about Tello, but if he's good, I'll take him and Salah.
ReplyDeletejamie your alive had people worried there for a while
ReplyDeleteWasn't betting on Willian and Mkytharian to Liverpool suspended at some stage as well? What became painfully obvious yesterday was that Chelsea managed to isolate Suarez with Coutinho and Sterling parked firmly in our own half. For most of the first half, they had seven players who spent the majority of the half on our half. Even their full back!
ReplyDeleteThis is what happened with Hull and Arsenal sadly!
ReplyDeleteAnd many people praying for my demise, I'm sure ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot really worried. Just mildly interested..... ;)
ReplyDeleteWe need to pull out the stops and convince Alonso to come back. We need that calming influence in midfield, and his passing would release Suarez.
ReplyDeleteIf it's the story from Marca I wouldn't get your hopes up mate. Hardly reliable.
ReplyDeleteJust seen the Mourinho interview on Sky.
ReplyDeleteGod, I hate that bloke. Eto'o clearly kicked Suarez in the shin and he wants Luis to get a yellow card???!!! He conveniently forgets the Porto team he crafted that Tom Daley would have struggled to get in.
Mohamed Salah Official page
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/momosalah
all goals and skils of mohamed salah 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6J2G-elSRE
Salah could be a great addition but we really need a LEFT BACK and we need a DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER.
ReplyDeleteI was at the game yesterday and it was painful to watch when Smith came on.
I turned to a mate of mine a Chelsea supporter and when he asked who he was I couldn't answer!
We need a BRUTE in the midfield that will make the nasty tackles that will have ETO think twice before he racks a player, as well as Terry.
A real bruising enforcer who we can play when teams want to get nasty.
As much I like what Allen can do he's just not big enough against the likes of Yaya Toure and David Luiz.
Allen has played well but should really not be expected to play against huge players like that.
I know it's not popular but when team dominate a league as I expect us to in the coming years they ALL have a nasty player.
Souness,Viera,Keane for example. we really need someone like that who will dish out the retribution.
Players do think twice about nasty tackles IF they think the opposing team has team has a player that will give it back and then some.
We lack that right now
Mourinho is Ferguson mark 2 he's trying to play mind games.
ReplyDeleteThankfully Brendan didn't take the bait.
I really wouldn't worry too much about Mourinho he wont be there long....He'll be batting his eyelids at PSG, or Man U in 18 months.
Yeah we just need to pull out the stops on that time machine research, too, so that we get Alonso from five years ago instead of the one who is in the twilight of his career. There are other good midfielders in the world!
ReplyDeleteone - young Smith was shown up the game passed him by, not his fault he will probably make it - that was just not the game to blood him in.
ReplyDeletetwo - a tale of two refs soton dont get a blatant penalty nor do we or the deserved red card, result everton get 3 instead of 1 point and we get none instead of at least one. add that to the city game and you will see that it is referees who decide games not footballers.
I agree with you completely and would suggest that we buy somebody like Bertrand as LB and Diame or Fernando from Porto as cover for CDM. Montoyawould be a good replacement at RB. then all we need is a good back up keeper(I suggest Adrian from WHU) as well as a back up striker and Att Mid. Preferably Volland ( look out for him in the World Cup) as Back up ST and someone like Rakitic as CAM. If we can get salah as well as these players in the next two windows we are set.
ReplyDeleteMignolet
Montoya,Skrtl,Sakho,Bertrand
Gerrard, Rakitic( Pushing up a bit) or Fernando
Coutinho
Salah, sturridge, Suarez.
Back up team
Back up keeper/ Adrian
Kelly, toure/ilori, Agger, Flanagan
Rossiter/Lucas, Henderson/diame
Suso
Sterling, Volland, Ibe
THANKYOU!!! Why can't people see that???
ReplyDeleteWe are building something. Not looking for 1 season stop gaps!
Oh how that reminds me of Souness! And Macmahon to a lesser extent. Agree with what you said. But who? Papadopulous?? But he is a defender..??
ReplyDeleteSalah would have helped especially against Man City..We NEED HELP!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat you lot seem to miss is that the only reason Rodgers put Smith on was to signal "this is what I have to turn to when we play Chelsea away". A very very shrewd movve I'd say. I agree wholeheartedly with te enforcer argument and I have said a long time (well at least the last 15 months) Diamé is a fantastic CDM. Much stronger and convenient with the ball than Lucas will ever be. We also need to bring offensive qualities. Sterling's just not good/experienced enough. It's all an' well this young team argument but you can't miss sitters like that against City away. Salah, I don't know. I hear he drifts in and out of games. We don't need that, we need players to come in and make an instant impact. Anyone eard anything about Sakho's injury? Bestest central defender we signed since Jock.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally. We lack presence in the midfield and I was at the game yesterday. Like men against midgets at times. Coutinho too small and would be better used as an impact sub for these type of games. Allen not good or big enough , he is so limited and while Jordan Henderson has improved a lot , top four , really !!
ReplyDeleteGood spirit though and tactic of Agger at left back failed as the balance of the team was again found wanting as at Arsenal.
Still not convinced with purchasing group , too many cooks and end up with all the dross. Tottenham haven't struggled to attract players , we should buy quality rather than quantity ,Rodgers obviously dosen't trust his signings else they would be playing . Aspas a joke and Alberto offers what ?? Illori is probably five years if ever of being good enough to play in the first team . Borini and Assaidi are now at the level of club they might get in the team with.
Big job to do and enjoying the way we have been playing but don't want to be the team that plays nice football and wins nothing. Tougher more physically able players who are technically better required.
thats what happens when u do good work
ReplyDeleteAlways. Just ask Hitler.
ReplyDelete..... don't know what to say to that think i should stay quiet don't want to step on any toes
ReplyDeleteThe key to winning any match against us is to isolate coutinhio and sterling
ReplyDelete.....and our loss against Chelsea was inexperience from BR ...glen ,Henderson,sacho ,Allen and Lucas all looked exhausted Chelsea didn't play any exceptional ball that was above what city. Played against us we just needed some fresh pair of legs .i was hoping BR would release kelly at RB and kolo and aspas .i told my wife after 20 mins that we would last the whole 90mins .they were just tired and should it all through out.
We wouldn't last the whole 90mins I meant.
ReplyDeleteFirst time I saw Salah play, I went ahead and bought him on my fantasy team, that is how much faith I have in him. He has pace and ball control, sometimes he lacks on the final touch but he is young, that comes with experience. We will be top title contenders in 2 seasons, if all players stay healthy and Suarez stays patient.
ReplyDeleteI think we need more of a right back than left back. When Jose comes back, he is a monster in that left back position, as long as he is his old self. He may need back up but I think Flano can do that. Since the injury Glen has been slow and nothing of his old self (he also seems to have added some wight). There is no one to fill that spot at the moment, maybe Flano, but he cannot be backup for both right and left. So Glen can be backup on right, and maybe we can bring in Ashley cole to be Jose's backup on the Left, and we can start Flano on the right. And we need someone to be in that DM spot and put Lucas on the bench, how about we have Gerrard be a DM and we move Salah as central AM, fixes many of our problems.
ReplyDeleteMy team for 2nd half of season, if we make some buys that is:
....................Mignolet....................
Flano/Glen.....Sakho/Kolo.....Skrtle/Agger.....Jose/A. Cole
.........................Gerrard/Lucas....................
Sterling/Coutinho.....Salah/Henderson.....Coutinho/????
........Suarez..........Sturridge/Salah.....
Not stepping on any toes is the opposite of what Hitler would do.
ReplyDeleteYou've changed, man.
Salah is the first of the three transfers that we have to make this winter to compete till the end for the title. We need a defensive midfielder as well and another striker to add depth to our bench. Very promising games against Man City and Chelsea (they both afraid deeply now of what we can become in the near future). Referees are killing us without excuse it is out of this world what is happening...
ReplyDeleteif true thank God
ReplyDeleteChelsea bound
ReplyDeleteBR criticised the ref at City so, we were never gonna get anything in the next game, the refs have their clique.
ReplyDeleteOverall we done very well so far, we had Spurs, City,and Chelsea,
away, if we drew in each game I would have been delighted, and we would have won 3 points.
We played those 3 away and still came away with 3 points,
not a bad total, when you consider the opposition.
Really hope we get Salah, would be a great addition, I seen him destroy Spurs, and Chelsea, home and away.
Ok then smarty pants (that includes YOU Jas). You got any better ideas?? Can you come up with a player who will be able to dictate the tempo of the game, play a killer pass when we need one and who will come on a fncking FREE??!!!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate what we are trying to build, but the whole point of January is that you get stop-gaps and loans. Someone who doesn't disrupt the balance of the team and will improve us. Because the main reason our defence is so shit is because we are lightweight through the middle and can't keep the ball. Alonso would immediately add a bit of class and composure to our play, and I reckon he might settle domestically too....
Ask Gerrard if he still rates him.
for all people who play down salah abilities
ReplyDeleteyoutube
watch?v=jVYPHNhQMDs
Yes Suso
ReplyDelete