Mohamed Salah topped Europe’s top seven leagues in a brilliant stat last season but Liverpool didn’t take full advantage.
Squawka presented some Opta data on their Twitter account on Thursday that highlighted Mohamed Salah, in particular. The stats showed who created the most big chances from open play across the top seven European leagues last season.
Liverpool’s no.11 topped the lot, creating 22 across the Premier League season. That saw him narrowly beat Girona’s Miguel Gutierrez for top spot.
It highlights just how good Salah was across the season – a season where many ultimately felt he wasn’t at his best. The Egyptian finished seventh in the Golden Boot race and third for assists.
And this stat shows that he probably shouldn’t have been higher for the latter. After all, he was joint-third on 10 assists and three players lower than him on the big chances list – Son Heung-Min, Kevin De Bruyne and Cole Palmer – finished with at least as many assists as Salah managed.
Liverpool, as a team, simply didn’t take advantage of what he brought.
Salah wasn’t as good over the second half of the season as he was in the first. There’s no argument there.
However, he still created chances. There were only three fixtures over the second half of the season where Salah didn’t create anything, but he received just one assist post-February 17th.
He created five in the 1-0 home defeat against Crystal Palace, for instance, and a collective five in draws with Manchester United and Aston Villa without getting assists. It’s not exactly a shock, but Liverpool’s finishing was a let down in the run-in.
And so it’ll be interesting to see how they rectify that next season. Will a new forward come in? Will the club simply back Arne Slot to get players firing?
They’re massive decisions as Liverpool will also hope that Salah can continue his creative form after the summer break. If he does, the Reds simply must take better advantage.
