Mohamed Salah's Liverpool future is being speculated following his recent comments to the mediaplaceholder image
Mohamed Salah's Liverpool future is being speculated following his recent comments to the media | Getty Images
Mohamed Salah has been criticised throughout the season and yet other Premier League stars are below the Liverpool veteran’s numbers.
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion,” claimed American composer and economist W. Edwards Deming. To an extent, he has a point. Football is unique though with emotion and what is seen with the eyes being every bit as important as what the numbers say.
It has been a strange Premier League season. Arsenal might be top, but they have never really excited or dominated. In most games, they have done enough, almost a return to the “1-0 to the Arsenal” days of George Graham with Mikel Arteta firmly buying into the philosophy that goals win games, but clean sheets win championships. Liverpool, on the other hand, have been counting the cost of having problems at both ends of the park after strolling to the title last season.
Mohamed Salah statistics and Liverpool form criticism
One significant difference has been Mohamed Salah. If he was the catalyst for winning the league last year, he has been culpable in Liverpool looking so poor this season even if the statistics suggest that he hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as has been made out by some. Records tumbled all over the place in 2024/25 but the Egyptian king has just 10 goals and assists this season so far. A falling out with Arne Slot then an African Cup of Nations enforced absence hasn’t helped though.
According to FotMob, Salah has, technically, overperformed. His expected goals and assists tally for the season is 9.7 which means that he isn’t fluffing his lines or blowing big chances to score goals. The 33-year old’s high standards mean that this is below what he normally produces in that there have been few occasions where he has produced a moment of magic or scored a long-range screamer.
The Premier League big names not hitting the heights of Salah
Perception is everything. Salah has been criticised almost throughout the season, and yet, several much-vaunted Premier League stars sit below him in the goals and assists table despite the narrative being that they are having good seasons.
The list of names who have performed below the level of Salah includes; Phil Foden (10 goals and assists), Rayan Cherki (10), Leandro Trossard (10), Cole Palmer (9) Viktor Gyokeres (8) and Bukayo Saka (7), players on the same number are ranked based on performance in relation to xG and all of those on 10 have needed more chances to hit the same as Salah.
In all competitions, Salah (15) has more than Bryan Mbeumo (12) and Jeremy Doku (14) too. He might not be as good as he once was, but he is still one of the best players in the league and still the standard that players like Foden, Palmer and Saka can only dream of reaching.
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