EPL TALK: Mo Salah must shake off Sadio Mane's ghost

REAL MADRID bloggers are currently discussing Mo Salah’s possible position in a revamped line-up. There isn’t one. The Egyptian walks like an also-ran, a spluttering symbol for Liverpool’s malaise. He’s not the answer to the Spanish club’s problems.

He’s got his own problems on Merseyside.

Salah is still playing in the shadow of another. Sadio Mane is gone, but not forgotten. The striker’s stature has grown since he left the Reds, making him Paul McCartney to Salah’s John Lennon. The Beatles had to break up for the two musicians to recognise their creative dependency. Salah presumably feels the same way about Mane.

Jurgen Klopp certainly thinks so. Before the FA Cup defeat by Brighton, the Liverpool manager attributed Salah’s loss of form to an erratic forward line. Mane used to drop deep to retrieve possession for Salah. But new signing Darwin Nunez doesn’t yet do that, according to Klopp.

Wading through these contradictions may prove as futile as Salah’s attempts to cut through Brighton’s defence, but they do raise questions. Why sign a conventional No.9 in Nunez to replace a more industrious forward? Why play Cody Gakpo through the middle when his natural game is out wide? Why lumber Salah with an out-of-position newcomer in Gakpo and a rookie in Harvey Elliott, who was also performing an unfamiliar role?

In protecting Salah, Klopp has drawn attention – and possible criticism – a little closer to home, highlighting his debatable transfer and selection decisions of late. Perhaps that’s the intention. The German loves a little misdirection, a deliberate slip of the tongue to have punters and pundits focusing on something other than Salah’s recent inability to hit a barn door with a banjo.

But Mane’s exit, Gakpo’s arrival and Elliott’s rawness do not explain Salah’s missed chances against the Seagulls. He squandered opportunities that were not nearly as complicated as Kaoru Mitoma’s delicate flick and volley, which made the Brighton winger look like a sous-chef gently cutting through an airy souffle. In stark contrast, Salah resembled a bleary-eyed baker hacking at a stale loaf.

Salah once scored goals like Mitoma’s winner. He scored them regularly, effortlessly, and as recently as last season, but his spin and finish against Manchester City in October 2022 feels so long ago. He’s still only 30. It’s not the age. Maybe it’s the international mileage.

The Africa Cup of Nations final defeat last February – against Mane’s Senegal – wounded the Egyptian. The game went to penalties. Mane scored the winning spot-kick. Salah didn’t get a chance to take one.

Two months later, he lost out on World Cup qualification – to Mane’s Senegal again – via another shootout. On this occasion, he managed to take a penalty. He missed. No guesses on who took the decisive kick for Senegal. Mane had ruined things for Salah twice. Leaving Liverpool felt like a third time. Salah hasn’t been the same player since.

He returned from international heartbreak and scored only eight goals from the final 25 games last season. His form has not improved this time around. Seven goals in 19 English Premier League appearances – 17 in 30 across all competitions – is an uncharacteristically poor return for the winner of three Golden Boots.

Unable to lift team out of uncertainty

But there’s obviously more to Salah’s troubles than two Egypt defeats and some trite psychoanalysis. He’s drifting with Liverpool, too. There’s a sense of a weary acrobat going through the motions before the circus leaves town. The Reds are supposedly a team in transition. In reality, they are on the brink of metamorphosis.

Liverpool are for sale to the highest bidder, or any bidder at this stage. Half a dozen new players and half a billion dollars might turn Anfield into a whole new world, but there’s little indication of either coming any time soon. Uncertainty runs through the team like a Brighton midfielder.

Klopp’s line-up for their FA Cup defence could be construed as wilfully optimistic or subconsciously defeatist, depending on your viewpoint, as a patchy midfield of Naby Keita, Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago Alcântara reminded Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, and James Milner that the end is near.

The relentless industry and boundless enthusiasm that once suggested that Liverpool had extra players – or lungs – hidden in plain sight has long gone. A boardroom, dugout and dressing room appear to be running on empty.

Salah cannot fix that on his own. He can only master his moments. For so long, he was unrivalled in this regard. Several moments against Manchester City, a moment against Everton, a moment against Chelsea and a moment against Watford, Salah had a knack for hitting a level of technical brilliance beyond those around him. On demand.

Maybe it’s greedy to ask for more now. A ludicrous 173 goals in 283 appearances allowed Liverpool to pick up every piece of silverware in the last five years. Salah is also part of a team in decline. And if teams, like societies, can only move as fast as their slowest member, then the forward's acceleration is effectively neutered.

The Reds rarely break at speed now. They are slowing down and taking Salah with them. He misses Mane’s work ethic and Roberto Firmino’s ingenuity.

But Mitoma’s goal still felt like a subtle rebuke. This was a Salah kind of goal, an improvised example of flawless technique. In a crowded box, Brighton’s winger wasn’t thinking about playing in a transitional line-up or lamenting lost team-mates. Creative spontaneity took over. He mastered his moment. He weakened Salah by looking just like him.

Liverpool’s forlorn figure once had these dramatic endings trademarked. He’s struggling to recreate them now. And while the loss of Mane is a reason, it’s not an excuse, not indefinitely anyway. The last senior figure in attack must accept his seniority if the Reds are to salvage what’s left of their season.

Real Madrid’s alleged interest in Salah is probably another example of speculation over substance, considering the Spaniards’ new transfer strategy of buying youthful potential rather than ageing brands like Eden Hazard. They are looking to the future.

But Liverpool are at risk of getting trapped in the past, emphasising the old triumvirate of Salah, Mane and Firmino to explain the Egyptian’s lack of goals. Even if it’s partially true, how does it help? He needs energy not empathy.

Salah can’t pick his team-mates, but he really should pick up the pace.

Neil Humphreys is an award-winning football writer and a best-selling author, who has covered the English Premier League since 2000 and has written 26 books.

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