The absolute state of this by Don Hutchison, Reds…
The Scot, who played for Liverpool between 1990 and 1994, scoring only seven league goals despite claiming to be an attacking midfielder, has had the audacity to go in on Mo Salah.
Salah has been described as being an inherently awful footballer who somehow racks up good numbers by Hutchison.
He says all Salah does is try to nutmeg defenders and it looks like he hasn’t been coached properly by Jurgen Klopp.
“I wouldn’t accept £140m for Mane, I wouldn’t, I disagree, I wouldn’t,” Hutchison told ESPN, cited by Egyptian outlet KingFut.
“They’re the same age but it’s Mo Salah that I watch every single week, and his numbers are astonishing don’t get me wrong and you can’t take that away from Mo Salah, but I think Stevie said a couple of weeks back when we were talking about the Champions League just before the Atletico Madrid game, you watch Mo Salah and the guy does genius things but he does the most basic things so bad it’s untrue.
“He can’t pass a ball five yards, he seems to keep playing this ball where he tries to nutmeg everyone from whatever side he’s on, if he’s coming off the right flank onto his left, tries to play it to a striker through a body of players that’s never, ever on.
“And you watch him and go ‘Surely this has been coached, surely Jurgen Klopp and his coaching staff have tried to coach Mo Salah, and he does the basic things really badly, yet his numbers are frightening and he scores a ridiculous amount of goals in the Premier League and the Champions League.
“So I would disagree, I think if you’re going to sell anyone and you had to sell one – don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t sell any if I was Jurgen Klopp – but if one was to go and you offered Mo Salah for someone like Jadon Sancho, I maybe would take that swap,” he concluded.
So these numbers Hutchison talks about…
Let’s look into them for a little bit. Salah has 20 goals and eight assists this season. World-class form for a wing-forward. In total, he has 91 goals in one less than season than Hutchison played at Liverpool for.
He won the Champions League last season and will win the Premier League this term when the competition is allowed to continue.
Can pundits like Hutchison not see that whatever Salah is doing for this team, it’s maybe working?
Of course he’s fulfilling a particular job Klopp has asked him to. That’s why he plays literally every week – and more often than not, scores or assists.
He’s allowed to try things and lose the ball. The system has been tweaked so that can happen. It’s not Salah being lazy with the ball; he’s literally dong what is asked of him: trying to make something happen in and around the box.