There were real concerns that Liverpool would struggle to create and convert goals when Mo Salah left for the Africa Cup of Nations, but his fellow attackers made light work of filling in.
By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
After stepping up a gear in the first half of the campaign, Salah’s departure to join Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations was considered a major blow for Liverpool.
Could Jürgen Klopp’s side really cope without a player who had scored 18 goals and assisted another nine in his first 27 games, averaging a goal contribution every 76 minutes across all competitions?
Egypt, for what it’s worth, struggled to cope with and without him, drawing their first two games of the tournament before a hamstring injury kept the captain out of the final group game (a third 2-2 draw) and the eventual exit on penalties to Cape Verde in the last 16.
Salah’s early return to Merseyside from the Ivory Coast, to undergo treatment at Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre, stoked the flames among a shocking number of high-profile detractors in his home country – including, it seems, new manager Hossam Hassan, who declared before Rui Vitória’s sacking and his appointment that “a hamstring injury does not require extensive facilities in Liverpool.”
The plan had been to report back for Egypt duty if fit enough for the latter stages, but after an early knockout, the 31-year-old has now made a timely return to training for Liverpool.
Only now, the narrative has changed, with Klopp and the players welcoming their No. 11 back as an obvious boost, but not one who will be desperately shoehorned back into the side.
That comes with his supporting cast, led by the trio of Darwin Núñez, Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz, stepping up in Salah’s absence.
Since his final appearance before the tournament – the 4-2 victory over Newcastle on New Year’s Day – Liverpool have scored 22 goals in eight games, averaging 2.75 per game and only conceding nine.
They have won once with a four-goal margin (4-0 vs. Bournemouth), twice with a three-goal margin (5-2 vs. Norwich and 4-1 vs. Chelsea) and twice with a two-goal margin (2-0 vs. Arsenal and 3-1 vs. Burnley). Their only loss in that time was the 3-1 defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League, which came after a calamity at the back, rather than an issue at the front.
For those 22 goals, Liverpool saw 10 different players find the back of the net, along with two scored by Arsenal defenders Jakub Kiwior and Gabriel Magalhaes. Jota (five), Nunez (four) and Diaz (four) were the most frequent contributors, but Curtis Jones also netted twice along with goals from Cody Gakpo, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Conor Bradley and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Bradley (four), Núñez (three), Díaz (two), Jota (two), Trent Alexander-Arnold (two) and Harvey Elliott (two) all set up more than one, with further assists for Gakpo, Jones, Szoboszlai, Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah and James McConnell.
In total, 14 different players contributed with either a goal or assist in Salah’s absence. Beyond the breakaway success of academy right-back Bradley, who had a hand in five goals, the standout contributors were Núñez (seven), Jota (seven) and Díaz (six).
Though the sample size is clearer much smaller, it is encouraging to see that Liverpool have scored at a higher rate (2.75 goals per game) in the eight games since Salah left for AFCON than in the 29 games before (2.4). In those 29 games, the Egyptian was responsible for 38.6 percent of all of Liverpool’s goals, but without him the spread has been more even, with Núñez and Jota both involved in 31.8 percent, Díaz responsible for 27.3 percent, Bradley 22.7 percent and Jones 13.6 percent.
While Salah scored and assisted the highest proportion of his side’s goals of any player in the Premier League in the first half of the season (48.7 percent), that has now dropped in the first five games of 2024. Including the win over Newcastle on January 1, no Liverpool player has contributed more than Jota’s 43.8 percent, with Núñez (31.3%), Bradley (25%) and Díaz (25%) all heavily involved, too.
That is not to say that Liverpool can now plan for life without Salah. Despite missing a month-and-a-half of football so far, he still has the most goals and assists combined of any player in this season’s Premier League – 22, with Erling Haaland and Ollie Watkins both on 21.
Across Europe’s top five leagues, only Harry Kane (29) and Kylian Mbappe (24) have more, while there is still no player who has created more big chances than the Egyptian, whose 17 tops that of Leroy Sané (15), Alexander-Arnold (13) and Kieran Trippier (13).
But rather than return as Liverpool’s saviour, Salah’s long-awaited recovery comes at a time when he can be eased back into the side; the most prolific goalscorer of Klopp’s reign at Anfield complementing a group of in-form forwards.
Eventually, a first-choice trio of Salah, Jota and Núñez can be expected settle on the teamsheet, but AFCON and injury has shown Klopp can afford to get by without his No. 11 – and that is exactly how it should be as he prepares to hand Liverpool 2.0 over to his successor.
(Images from IMAGO)
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