In his fifth season at the club, Mohamed Salah still managed to find new and ingenious ways to blind us and at times take our breath away.
Liverpool’s No. 11 flew out of the blocks as if possessed, finding the net in 10 consecutive games, culminating in an unprecedented hat-trick at Old Trafford.
This series included another goal of the season against Man City and Watford, which many called the best on the planet.
The level at which Salah acted before Christmas was simply too much for the defenders to live on – he was a force of nature.
Mohamed Salah, 2021/22
Started: 45 (All competitions)Included as a substitute: 6Unused sub: 0goals: 31assists: 16
Overall season rating: 9.62
Creating a story
His role in the 5-0 defeat of Man United deserves its own review.
Salah became the first player in the history of the Premier League to gather three at the home of our M62 friends and seemed visibly annoyed that Liverpool could not get more after Paul Pogba’s red card.
These three goals came immediately after the phenomenal solo effort against City and Watford respectively – both absolute works of art.
This is probably the best month a Liverpool player has had.
Not content with the heroism of Old Trafford, the golden age continued with a bracket in Goodison Park. Two wonderfully completed finals to immerse another fierce rival in their home court and raise his status in European football.
In addition to 31 goals in all competitions, Salah also scored an impressive 16 assists.
Thirteen of them came to the league, enough to win the Premier League playmaker’s award and repeal any criticism of his selfish nature at the door.
The fruitful form of goals has spread to Europe.
Mo rehearsed in new territory, scoring seven goals in the group stage of the Champions League, more than any Liverpool player in the history of the competition.
This is a particularly impressive result when you consider the “Group of Death” label attached to Group B when the draw came out.
Goals against Villa, Newcastle and Chelsea followed before he was called up to the international team in January.
Apart from those matches he missed during the African Cup of Nations, the only other team in the match that did not feature Salah (both in the Premier League and in Europe) was away in Southampton in the last week of the season.
Fights after AFCON
It feels a little harsh to describe another record campaign as a two-half season, but there was a noticeable change in production when the Egyptian returned from AFCON, which is worth analyzing.
The heart of missing an international trophy, with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, was complicated by the defeat in a World Cup qualifier seven weeks later.
Sadio Mane was the beneficiary in both cases.
Missing Salah’s penalty in the final penalty of the World Cup playoffs would have been enough to knock them all out, and the national team’s failures did not help his form at the end of the season.
Of course, for most of the season, there was also a cloud in his head in the form of a contract, an unwanted distraction for any professional who wants to produce the best of his abilities on a weekly basis.
Although there is still no decision at the time of writing, Liverpool fans around the world will hope that an agreement can be reached over the summer that will allow Salah to thrive on the way he did earlier in the season.
Ultimately, however, this is a season that has brought a number of individual and collective awards.
Salah became only the fourth player in the Premier League era to win three Golden Shoe Awards, leaving him with just one less than Thierry Henry’s record (four).
He also received a second PFA Player of the Year award and another Footballer of the Year for the Good Writers Association.
What next?
A marker of the standards he has set for himself is that despite all the individual acknowledgments, there are still questions about the form.
Salah will hope to enter 2022/23 with energy again and be ready to step on the ground in a similar way as last season.
It is worth noting that Egypt’s failure to qualify for the World Cup will give it the best part of the six-week break in November and December, a welcome bonus from Liverpool’s point of view, given the relentless nature of its schedule in Lately.
No matter what happened to the contract situation, it was a pleasure and a privilege to watch this man at his peak week after week.
Having already confirmed their intention to stay next season, we can start expecting more moments of brilliance, as this amazing team is chasing all the awards again.
Players like this appear once a generation, evaluate it for as long as it lasts.
Best moment: Old Trafford’s hat trick
Worst moment: Leicester’s penalty missed
Role next season: The mascot once again, especially considering the upcoming departure of Sadio Mane
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