Jurgen Klopp may be right about what Mohamed Salah has…

Jurgen Klopp may be right about what Mohamed Salah has just 'found' at Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp has an excellent way with words, especially considering he is not speaking to the English media in his native language. Every interview seems to contain a comment or phrase which gets immediately shared on social media.

When speaking to Sky Sports ahead of his side’s 2-1 loss at Old Trafford, the Liverpool manager used a typically amusing phrase when discussing Mohamed Salah. "I think he found a right foot on holiday. He always develops,” Klopp said, later adding: “This year he arrived with crosses with his right foot."

No detail escapes the German’s attention, and here was another. Yet while there is evidence to back up Klopp’s claims about Salah, he’s actually one of the most two-footed members of the Reds’ squad.

FBRef determine how adept a player is with each foot by looking at the proportion of their passes they make with their dominant one. For instance, Salah is 83 per cent left-footed by this measure, which is based on the data across his Liverpool career.

A closer look shows how his reliance upon his stronger foot has changed across the last five years. The Egyptian made 87 per cent of his passes with his left in 2017/18, but the proportion dropped year-on-year until he hit 81 per cent in 2020/21. It then rose last season and has done so once again in the early weeks of 2022/23.

The only Liverpool player currently more two-footed than Salah is Kostas Tsimikas, who has made 81 per cent of his passes with his trusty left peg. But while this shows Salah hasn’t exactly ‘found’ his right foot since the summer, Klopp’s point about crossing is accurate. The Reds’ right forward has been remarkably creative using his weaker foot in this regard recently.

Salah has effectively created three clear-cut chances (Opta-defined opportunities where you would expect the attacker to score) so far this season, though only two officially. The exception was his pass for Darwin Nunez’ goal at Fulham, for which the Reds’ number 11 received no official credit thanks to the deflections the ball took on its path.

The other two instances set up opportunities for Nunez too. The pair had combined three minutes earlier at Craven Cottage, but the shot was saved, and Salah had created a big chance for his new teammate in the Community Shield. In that example the subsequent header was off target, though it resulted in a handball and a penalty. More notably, in light of Klopp’s comments, all three moments were fashioned by Salah using his right foot.

In terms of goal scoring, the Egyptian is not the most one-footed top forward the big European leagues have seen in recent times. Gareth Bale, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney, to name but four, have all scored a greater proportion of their feet-hit career goals with their stronger foot.

And Salah has undoubtedly shown how lethal he can be with his right, not least with his Premier League goal of the season against Manchester City last October. The rest of the big six have also conceded at least one goal from his weaker foot, as have six different Champions League group stage opponents. The Reds would likely not have become kings of Europe in 2019 had Salah not secured a 1-0 victory over Napoli with a right-footed strike.

Since the start of 2014/15, back when he was with Chelsea, Salah has scored 23 league goals using his right foot, from chances valued at 22.5 expected (per Understat). He has been about one goal below par on that side with Liverpool, but it’s clearly not a massive weakness by any means.

If he can maintain his early season creative burst with his right foot then Salah may well retain his Premier League Playmaker of the Year award. Klopp might finally run out of phrases with which to praise the 30-year-old if that happens.

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