"So poor again", "Extremely selfish performance" - Liverpool fans unimpressed with Mohamed Salah after 3-2 loss to Brighton
Mohamed Salah has drawn the ire of fans online for his performance in the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Liverpool on Monday (May 19). The Egyptian fluffed his lines on the night as the Reds fell to a 3-2 defeat at the Amex Stadium.
While Liverpool had already sealed the 2024-25 Premier League title, they dispelled suggestions that they would complacently start the game as they went ahead just nine minutes into proceedings. Salah found an advancing Conor Bradley, and the latter evaded his markers and cut the ball back for Harvey Elliot to tap home.
Brighton grew into the game as the first half progressed and were back on level terms in the 32nd minute as Yasin Ayari took Brajan Gruda’s inch-perfect pass in his stride and coolly beat Alisson from close range. Just before halftime, Dominik Szoboszlai put Liverpool in the ascendancy again, firing the ball over Bart Verbruggen from a free-kick routine.
The Seagulls came into the second half, upping the ante, but had to turn to the bench for Kaoru Mitoma, who restored parity four minutes after his introduction. Momentum was with Brighton towards the closing stages of the match, and it was another substitute, Jack Hinshelwood, who came to their aid to give them the winning goal four minutes from time.
Salah, who has been Liverpool's top performer this season, had a night to forget. The Egyptian missed a clear goal-scoring chance in the 54th minute and was denied by Verbruggen in the 64th minute. Simply put, he missed two big chances, won just two of nine duels contested, and received a rating of 6.3 as per Sofascore.
After the match, fans took to X (formerly Twitter) and laid into him, with one writing:
"Salah been so poor again."
Another tweeted:
"Honestly Salah needs to be dropped, his been piss poor f9r the last few months."
"I know this doesn’t matter in the great scheme of things, but far too many poor individual performances here. Gravenberch missed a sitter when 2-1 up last season and we drew. Salah likewise today, followed by another, and they’re gonna cost us. Just poor," @les_jackson wrote.
"Ever since Salah started looking at records he has been so poor," @JonParry957675 added.
"Salah could've easily ended up with more than 30 goals and 20+ assist but since start of April it has been a poor return," @Chef_RS chimed in.
"The more you want it the less you get it. Salah is trying to score by hook and by crook, selfishly snubbing better-positioned teammates to aim at goal himself. It's yet another poor showing by the Egyptian superstar,'' @journ9ale wrote.
"We really need to talk about about the shit salah pulled off, extremely selfish performance," @MYSTERIOUS_CR7 claimed.
“It’s not the first time that he is not scoring” – Arne Slot on Mohamed Salah’s missed chances in Liverpool's 3-2 defeat to Brighton
Liverpool boss Arne Slot refused to throw Mohamed Salah under the bus after he missed sitters against the Seagulls. The Dutchman admitted he was surprised that the Egyptian couldn’t convert chances but leapt to his defense, saying it “hardly ever happens.”
He told the media in the post-match press conference:
“The first thought that goes through my head when I see a ball moving towards Mo, I am like, 'It's a quite big chance, this could lead to a goal' because that's what Mo normally does. He has been throughout this season almost un-human, but there were moments in the season where he was human. So, it's not the first time that he is not scoring for one or two games in a row, but the good thing for us is that this hardly ever happens and if it happens you can be sure he will score in either the third or fourth game again.”
Liverpool will play against Crystal Palace in their last league match of the 2024-25 campaign.