Chelsea left back Marc Cucurella highlighted Mohamed Salah’s tendency to not track back as a weakness which his side successfully exploited in Saturday’s 2–1 victory over Liverpool.
Cucurella was the player who drilled a low cross along Liverpool’s box for Estêvão to bundle over the line in the 95th minute of an enthralling encounter at Stamford Bridge. The Spaniard had managed to deal with Salah for much of the contest inside Chelsea’s defensive third and took full advantage of the space vacated by the front-foot winger when bursting into the area to deliver the decisive pass.
“We always try to attack no matter the situation,” Cucurella explained to Sky Sports postgame. “The way they play, Salah is always ready to attack, so we knew that crosses could be an advantage. We won the game in this way today.”
Salah’s advanced positioning is not a question of laziness, but rather a measured risk. By keeping Liverpool’s perennial talisman pinned on the last line of the opposition’s rearguard, the Reds always have Salah as an outlet when launching rapid counterattacks. That tactic is a large reason why Liverpool racked up a league-leading 14 goals in transition on their way to last season’s Premier League title.
As weeks go in football, they don't get much worse than the one Liverpool have had! pic.twitter.com/GdklsW3Wr5
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Limiting Salah’s workload off the ball also allows the 33-year-old to conserve his energy for bursts at the sharp end of the pitch. After Liverpool’s title was confirmed last April, Salah revealed how Arne Slot’s diminished demands helped him finish as the division’s top scorer following Jürgen Klopp’s exit.
“Now I don’t have to defend much,” Salah grinned. “The tactics are quite different. I said, ‘As long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively,’ so I am glad that [Slot] did. He listened a lot, and you can see the numbers.”
The numbers are not quite so flattering this season.
Arne Slot Defends Mohamed Salah
As Salah himself has admitted, if he is to be spared any defensive efforts, he must deliver in the final third. His radar was off on Saturday. The former Chelsea misfit spurned two relatively presentable openings on his return to Stamford Bridge, failing to hit the target on each occasion. Salah did create a game-high four chances, but was limited to just 35 touches, the fewest of any player to complete 90 minutes.
Slot batted away any whisper of criticism which was threatening to form around his star man. “Today he had many opportunities to do what he’s done so often, but he’s a human being and it’s not like every chance he gets is always a goal,” the Liverpool boss warned.
“We feel sometimes it is because of what he’s done last season and so many times, but he can also have a game where he has chances and a lot of times in promising positions and doesn’t have a goal or an assist.”
While Slot may wish to brush this off as a one-off, it should be noted that Salah has scored just five goals in his previous 21 appearances for Liverpool across all competitions.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Chelsea Exploited Mohamed Salah Weakness to Defeat Liverpool.
