Tony Cascarino omitted Liverpool attackers Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah from his combined Reds-Manchester City XI ahead of the two sides clashing on Sunday.
The pundit revealed there was no room in his combined XI for Salah or Firmino, with him opting to chose Sadio Mane, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero as his attacking trio.
Cascarino insisted he picked his team purely on form and directly started that Raheem Sterling, as well as Mane, were performing at a higher level than Salah currently.
“I have picked this team purely on form,” wrote Cascarino for the Times.
“This time last season I would have selected Mohamed Salah but Raheem Sterling and Sadio Mané are performing at a higher level.
“Sergio Agüero keeps showing why he is the ultimate predator, so there is no room for Salah or Roberto Firmino.”
OPINION
Cascarino has been bold with his combined XI and he deserves credit for that, however, Firmino and Salah both not making the cut is a little eye-opening. Salah has scored five goals and assisted three in his opening 10 league appearances, and has impressively averaged 3.7 shots per game across his league outings and an even more impressive 4 shots across his four appearances in the Champions League this season (Source: WhoScored). The Eqyptian is also the Reds’ joint-top scorer this season, across all competitions, alongside Mane after hitting the back of the net eight times. Salah has averaged a goal every 152 minutes, as per BBC Sport, so it seems very harsh that Cascarino couldn’t find room in his team for him. Although it is worth noting Aguero has averaged a goal every 73 minutes this season, while Sterling has struck every 93 minutes, as per the BBC. As for Firmino, stats undersell him. The Brazilian may have only averaged a goal every 308 minutes this season, as per the BBC, but he is much more than a goalscorer and you think he should make the cut as you could argue Man City would benefit from someone of his talents.
