Virgil van Dijk hails Mohamed Salah for insane numbers and consistent availability
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has hailed the numbers and consistency Mohamed Salah has produced and demands people give him more respect.
By scoring against Brentford on Saturday, Salah made it nine consecutive games scoring at Anfield. He also touched the 100-goal mark in that stadium, which is special, to say the least.
Despite the perceived notion that the Egyptian King has not been at his best, he has managed to touch the 30-goal mark in all competitions for the fourth time in his sixth season at Liverpool.
Here’s van Dijk praising the 30-year-old, his numbers, and consistent availability and demanding more respect for him from the people (h/t Liverpool Echo):
“Statistics show that (he is making history)and we shouldn’t forget he’s playing as a winger.
“There is so much work that goes in behind the scenes, for Mo in this case. But it goes for a lot of players that nobody really sees. For him to be fit for 97% of the (Premier League and Champions League) games, that’s maybe the most difficult thing along with staying consistent each and every game.
“I don’t think there’s anything to argue with that (Salah is an all-time great and his constant availability over six years is extraordinary). I don’t think it’s rare to say that.
“People don’t really speak about those kind of things too much, but maybe we should. On top of that, his numbers speak for themselves. In the world we live in nowadays, maybe the respect comes after he has stopped playing.”
This Salah thing is quite similar to Sadio Mane when he was at Liverpool. People used to under-appreciate how good the Senegalese was until he left. Now, he did go at the right time though because the decline in his performances was palpable. But, that does not take away from the fact that he is a club legend.
Coming back to Salah, what he is able to do on a yearly basis should be talked about more. To add to that, he is not a number nine. Whichever way people want to twist this, the Egyptian is a winger who makes the inside channel runs.
We hope that the 30-year-old finishes this season well and helps us get back to previous heights in the next campaign. He looks fit, strong and ready to do well in his mid-30s as well. He hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.
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After defeats for Newcastle United and Manchester United over the weekend, Liverpool’s hopes of finishing in the top four stay alive for another game-week. It all still depends on the Reds winning all of their remaining games and one of Newcastle or United dropping a few more points.
