One former English league champion has said that he’d never substitute Mo Salah if he were managing Liverpool.
John Giles – a member of Don Revie’s illustrious Leeds United team of the 1970s – was speaking on The Stand with Eamon Dunphy when the two pundits were discussing the Egyptian’s reactions upon being taken off by Jurgen Klopp.
While the 31-year-old was slated by Roy Keane over his visible displeasure at being subbed against Chelsea in August (Daily Mail), another Irish football legend took a rather different view of such actions.
Giles insisted: “That’s a good sign isn’t it? Who wants to be taken off? If I’m being honest I’d never take him off. He’s always there; even if he’s not playing well he’s capable of getting a goal from nowhere, and that’s why he gets so annoyed when he’s taken off.
“That’s his temperament, that’s what he believes in and he believes in himself. He’s brilliant and as a pro you have to love Salah.”
When a player shows visible anger at being substituted – be it kicking water bottles, walking straight down the tunnel or throwing objects around – it can often be interpreted as a sign of a questionable attitude, or even a show of insubordination towards the manager.
Admittedly the optics of such behaviour aren’t great, but we can also see why Giles would deem it a positive thing in terms of a player having such self-belief that they’d be shocked to see their number being held up by the fourth official.
In Salah’s case, the statistics are there to illustrate that he’s a match-winner, pure and simple. He recently embarked on a 13-match sequence either side of the off-season in which he either scored or set up a goal, while he’s already netted six times in 10 games so far this term (Transfermarkt).
Once he’s continuing to deliver the goods on the pitch – and he clearly is – the Egyptian’s teammates and manager won’t be too put out if the attacker reacts with disdain to being substituted. The day that he looks glad to be coming off is the day that we start to worry!