Mohamed Salah Quietly On Pace For Another 40 Goal Season

Between COVID, injuries, VAR, and other distractions, it’s easy
to overlook what Salah is doing for Liverpool. We absolutely
shouldn’t be.

We’ve been a negative bunch, haven’t we? Yeah, the world kind of
sucks right now. And while this 20/21 vintage of Liverpool isn’t as
good as the last two or three, we’re still sitting top of the
league and in the Champions
League Round of 16. This is despite an injury list that’s
longer than War and Peace and seemingly every Premier
League ref out to get us.

But there’s one very bright spot among all this: Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian King. He’s not quite back to his high
watermark of 2017/18, but he’s not too far off it either.

In 2017/18, Salah averaged a goal in the league and Champions
League every 91.7 minutes. He racked up 44 goals in all
competitions, second only to Ian Rush’s 47 in 1983/84 as
Liverpool’s greatest single-season scoring record. Along the way,
he set an new Premier League record and nearly fired the Reds to
their 6th Champions League win (thankfully we wouldn’t have a long
wait to right that wrong).

Over the past two seasons, Salah’s goal totals have gone from
eye-wateringly incredible and nearly superhuman to merely world
class. He averaged a goal in the league and Champions league every
160 minutes in 18/19, and every 157.4 minutes in 19/20, netting 23
and 27 times in all comps, respectively. Oh, and a second Premier
League golden boot along the way.

This year? He’s banging them in every 104.9 minutes in the
league and Champions League. As I said, it’s not quite back to his
absolute best, but it is a significant up-tick in goals from his
past two campaigns.

On Wednesday, he scored his 11th league goal of the season, and
14th overall, in his 20th appearance in all comps. In 2017, he
reached his 11th league goal in his 14th outing. This year? He did
it in 13 league games. And, yet again, he finds himself at the top
of the Premier League goal scoring chart.

Since joining the Reds, he played 52 matches in both 17/18 and
18/19, and 48 matches last year—which would have undoubtedly been
more, had Liverpool gone through against Atletico
Madrid.

Over 3 full campaigns, he’s averaged 3,931 league and Champions
League minutes. At his current rate of scoring, that would give him
37-38 goals in those two competitions. Add in the FA Cup—if
he plays in it—we could easily see another 40+ goal season from
Mo.

But what if Salah plays more minutes, as he did in 18/19? That
year, he could be seen running down the wing for 4,320 minutes in
the league and Champions League. If Mo plays a similar number of
minutes to that season, we could expect another 27-28 at his
current pace. Or, 41-42, plus whatever he bags in the FA Cup.

Some detractors might point to Mo’s high number of penalty goals
in all of this. That’s not a completely unfair point. But then
again, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been inflating their
numbers from the spot for years. And like those other
players, if Mo once again reaches 40-plus goals, or thereabouts, he
should be strongly considered for the Ballon d’Or.

Liverpool fans have become absolutely spoiled what Salah does on
a weekly—or lately bi-weekly—basis. He does not get nearly the
respect he deserves, not just from the global football punditry
class, but from his own supporters. Instead of being amazed by
Salah returning to his goal-scoring best, we just chalk it up to
“Mo doing what Mo does.”

So, next time Mo bangs one in (hint: probably the next time he’s
on the pitch), take a moment to appreciate what you’re seeing: one
of the world’s best footballers giving it all for Liverpool.