Adrian Durham has claimed Liverpool’s Mo Salah is one of the top three divers in the Premier League.
The talkSPORT host made the argument during a segment on his show in which he named his “top five” divers in the division.
Putting Salah in at number three, he said: “Mo Salah for me, I don’t really need to say anymore.”
? 5. Vardy
? 4. Ashley Barnes
? 3. Salah
? 2. Zaha
? 1. ……@talkSPORTDrive names his top 5 current divers in the Premier League. ??Agree with his number 1? ? pic.twitter.com/XY2meo32YA
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) November 5, 2019
OPINION
Durham loves going on the wind-up, and his verdict will no doubt infuriate a fair few Liverpool fans here. The fact of the matter is that Salah has been caught out for diving before. Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has even gone as far as to compare him to Olympic diver Tom Daley, as per talkSPORT. In the modern game, it can be difficult for a player to then shift that kind of reputation, and as such, even if Salah were never to dive again, there would still be a fair faction of the football community who would call him into question. But perhaps there is more to this than meets the eye. Salah averages 3.2 attempted dribbles per game, as per Whoscored, and is fouled an average of 0.6 times per match. In other words, he dribbles a lot, and is fouled a fair amount too. At some point, he is going to realise that there are times when it is better for him to take evasive action than to get clattered by a bloodthirsty defender. Does that absolve him of all diving? No, of course not. Does it maybe temper Durham’s monolithic view of the issue? Hopefully so.
