Paul Merson has claimed that Joao Cancelo would rather Mo Salah ‘didn’t play’ for Liverpool ahead of their Premier League title showdown against Manchester City on Sunday at the Etihad, as he told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (09/04/22 at 2:00 pm).
The Sky pundit added that ‘no-one in the world’ is better than Liverpool’s Egyptian flyer at running without the ball.
It’s what Salah did during the reverse fixture in October that will possibly keep Cancelo awake because, whilst the £60 million defender (BBC Sport) is technically outstanding, he will be looking over his shoulder on a number of occasions later on today.
Salah has already danced past Man City’s defence like they were relegation candidates and don’t bet against him doing so again – as Alan Shearer has predicted.
Nonetheless, ahead of that game, Merson made it clear that ‘the best of the best’ (Salah) has to start today, regardless of how well his fellow Liverpool attackers are playing.
“Cancelo would rather Salah didn’t play,” said Merson. “One goal or however many (Salah has scored in recent weeks).
On Salah possibly being on the bench v Man City: “Not for me. I think he’s the best of the best. They will play counter-attacking football. Man City will have more play than Liverpool, that’s the way they play. Liverpool will invite them on, then they are going to counter-attack.
“No-one runs in the world better than Salah. When Salah makes a run, he makes a run at full pelt – they will counter-attack and pick Man City off.
“I watched Man City against Atletico Madrid, who played a 5-5-0 formation. And if they could have played 10-0-0 formation, they would have. But they broke twice in that game, I sat there and thought ‘if this was Liverpool, the pass would have been better and they would have been away’. Man City have to be careful. I don’t think there is a better team in world football at counter-attacking than Liverpool.”
The big question will be who Jurgen Klopp will select to be part of his front three at the Etihad.
It’s obvious that Salah will take his seat on the right-hand side, it’s just a case of who will also fasten up their seatbelts.
In truth, Liverpool’s best-performing front three this season has been – Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Salah himself.
So, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Klopp pushes for that, with the option of having Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz coming off the bench.
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