Some Liverpool fans have voiced the agreement with former Reds midfielder Don Hutchison’s criticism of Mohamed Salah for his apparent weakness with “basic” aspects of his game.
Speaking on ESPN FC [via Daily Express], the 48-year-old accused the Egyptian of struggling with fundamental aspects of play despite his impressive goals tally (Salah has hit the 20-goal mark for the third season in a row).
In quotes that were shared on Twitter by @AnfieldEdition, Hutchison said: “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.”
Don Hutchinson: “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 does the basic things really, really badly, yet his numbers are frightening and he scores a ridiculous number of goals.” pic.twitter.com/aShlIrGRaW
— Anfield Edition (@AnfieldEdition) March 17, 2020
While Salah has either won or shared the Premier League Golden Boot in the past two seasons and is Liverpool’s top scorer again this term, his passing accuracy of 76.1% is among the lower end of the spectrum among the Reds’ squad (as per WhoScored). The 27-year-old had been slated by some Kopites over his performances against Atletico Madrid and West Ham last month, while he was also castigated for his apparent selfishness following an incident in the 3-0 win at Burnley earlier this season.
These Liverpool fans on Twitter felt that Hutchison had a point with his critical verdict of Salah, who one Kopite described as “so frustrating“:
So accurate.
— That #LFC Lad© (@ThatLFCLad) March 17, 2020
Hes not wrong. Its not hard to see. Just need to watch him play. Not disrespecting Salah just stating an obvious veiw.
— Terry Bray (@TLBRAY92) March 17, 2020
Past few games I’ve lost count how many times hes tried to pass the ball THROUGH a defender. So frustrating.
— Road to #19 (@OwnHalfAlonso) March 17, 2020
Bang on Don, you can’t be anymore correct about how he has been playing since last one year or so.
— ??????? ????? ???? (@desaisandeepb) March 17, 2020
He’s spot on tbf
— Ferno (@Fxrno) March 18, 2020
That is a fair summary tbh. His first touch is often worse than if you literally bounced the ball off of a plank of wood.
— Adam Cleave (@AdamCleave) March 17, 2020
Honestly, he’s not wrong.
— Alex (@runandjumpson) March 17, 2020
Agree. Does so many errors and tries too hard. Then scores a tap in or rounds 5 players then bends it over the bar
— Jamie Buckley (@Buckerzz100) March 18, 2020
Liverpool fans, was Hutchison’s criticism of Salah fair or harsh? Comment below with your views!
