Ian Wright was left blushing over his half-time joking remarks about Mo Salah during Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Arsenal.
The No.11 took his tally to 15 goal contributions for the season (in 13 games across all competitions) with his pivotal equaliser.
A point gained ensured Arne Slot’s men maintained a four-point lead over the Gunners, though fell a point behind new leaders Manchester City.
The Reds next take on the Sky Blues on December 1 in another potentially key title clash.
Another lesson learned for Ian Wright on Sunday: never count Mo Salah out.
The Stick to Football favourite was caught out during coverage of the Merseysiders’ trip to the Emirates Stadium prior to the Egyptian making his mark in the 81st minute.
“But that’s what he does, doesn’t he? Shuts you up. Shut me up,” the ex-Arsenal man said on Premier League Productions after Steve McManaman noted his co-pundit had been calling the Egyptian ‘No Salah’ at half-time.
The 60-year-old was not alone in being left impressed by our 2017 signing’s impact on the pitch. Alan Shearer likewise noted the right winger’s limited involvement on the ball, though was quick to praise his movement around the goal.
Obviously, if Mo Salah does end up departing when his contract expires in 2025, we’ll have no choice but to source a replacement.
However, it does beg the question as to where we might look. We’ve seen the likes of Brentford’s Bryan Mbeumo and PSV’s Johan Bakayoko linked for instance. Both players would tick one major box already as left-footed right-wingers.
The latter, of course, on 98 senior games – compared to Mbeumo’s 256 between Brentford and Troyes – would fall short of the recruitment department’s desired 150-200 senior games played.
More to the point, and regardless of minimum criteria, can Liverpool expect a new signing to just come in and make an instant impact?
There are examples of footballers who have just done that. However, you’d have to wonder at the psychological impact of replacing Salah once he’s left and being gradually filtered into the starting XI with the expectation the attacker will leave in the relatively near future.
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