Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
At the ripe old age of 32, Mohamed Salah cannot give defenders a headache for 90 minutes like he used to, nor will the numbers continue to be as otherworldly as they once were. What these once-in-a-lifetime talents can do, however, is conjure season-defining moments, when his team needs them most.
For large swathes of Saturday’s gripping clash with Brighton & Hove Albion, the visitors were head and shoulders above their opponents, making Liverpool look foolish as they chased shadows in the first half.
But only going into the break 1-0 up never felt enough. Not when the Salahs of this world are around. We have all seen strikes like his second-half winner to complete a crucial comeback success, made even sweeter on a day that Manchester City and Arsenal both lost, before.
That does not make them preventable, however. When Salah cuts onto his left foot, the man now outright eighth in the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer charts, almost always comes up with the goods.
Leagues are won in moments, moments few are capable of coming up with so often.
The angles that Brighton were finding, sometimes within their own penalty area, to draw the Liverpool press, would have given Hipparchus a headache in the first half.
Only two Premier League teams coming into the weekend had conceded more goals as a result of defensive errors than Brighton, but you would not have known that as, in front of a stunned Anfield, Brighton toyed with Liverpool at times in the opening 45 minutes.
Pep Guardiola has revolutionised how defences play out from the back, with goalkeepers taking the short option at all levels, from Anfield to Hackney Marshes. This, however, was something else altogether.
Guardiola tries to instil in his players an element of “pausa” – allowing the play to develop that split second longer, thus creating new spaces, before making a pass. It’s unclear though if the Catalan maestro has tried it with his goalkeepers.
With Liverpool left chasing shadows, Brighton were unfortunate to only go into the break 1-0 in front. Ferdi Kadioglu, a left-back operating on the right wing on Saturday, rifled the visitors in front, his first-ever Premier League goal and one to really remember in front of a stunned Kop.
A fine stop from Caoimhin Kelleher in the much busier Liverpool goal to deny Georginio Rutter kept Brighton from extending their first-half lead, while the hosts could barely string two passes together.
You just knew that chance was going to prove vital. There was no way Liverpool were going to be as bad after the break, and sure enough, finally thundering into some tackles got the crowd going, with Virgil van Dijk and Salah wasting golden opportunities to level early in the second half.
It was a matter of time until the Kop net bulged again, with Cody Gakpo’s cross that evaded everyone and ended up in the net breaking Brighton’s resistance.
There was only one winner from here. Curtis Jones, a superb substitute, the creator, the Egyptian King the finisher. Salah has been involved in 12 of Liverpool’s 20 goals league goals this season, a higher proportion of a team’s goals than any other in the Premier League.
He was supposed to be on the wane, eyeing a move to Saudi Arabia, where he really could become King – a Muslim footballer in an Arab country.
Not yet. Salah and Liverpool are far from done. He will disappear for longer periods in games, as he did against Brighton, but there is always a moment in his locker. And that, in what promises to be an enthralling title race, can make all the difference.
