The Soccer Thread (Version 9)

Or, because we're talking about this season:

3 of 17 on penalties.

15 of 17 with his left foot.

50 percent shooting accuracy.

14 big chances missed.

Mohamed Salah Statistics | Premier League

 

Also:

 

Comparing any other player to Ronaldo is unfair. To compare one to Messi, the greatest ever, is super unfair. Any contemporary player is going to look poor in that matchup. A fairer equivalent would be Kane. As a Spurs fan, I'm deliriously happy with Kane and would never trade him. But there are many days when Salah is the better of the two. Pro tip: When you're a fan, accept your team's best players for what they are. Ninety-nine percent of the time, when the team loses, they didn't do it. It just seems that way because of expectations. I call this the Wilt Chamberlain rule.

 

So we’re ignoring the other games against Arsenal and Napoli?

 

I would never have compared Salah to Messi or Ronaldo, but last season, people did all the time. There was talk that he was worth 250 million Euros. That's not what Salah is. He's a totally fine striker. Kane is a good comparison, except I think Kane is a more multi-faceted player and will therefore last longer as a threat. My guess is Salah scores 12 or 14 goals next season and soon ends up in China as a tourist attraction.

 

Are you ignoring all those red Xs? Or any of the other stats I offered?

I'm not saying he's awful. I'm saying he's not worth the comparisons to far better players, and I hate the way he plays. On Liverpool, I like Sadio Mane's game far more, for instance. I love guys like Andy Robertson. For me, Salah plays soft. I see nothing about him that makes me believe he'll still be a star in five years.

 

25 percent of Harry Kane's goals this season are through penalties, since we're cherry picking.

Salah has as many career PL assists as Kane in 100 fewer appearances.

But yeah, he mostly scores goals with his left foot. What a mediocre talent.

 

"My guess is Salah ... soon ends up in China as a tourist attraction."

I mean, what in the actual fuck?

 

Salah has been incredible. Sometimes, I watch him and I don’t think he’s that good and at times he’s super soft, but the numbers don’t lie. He can get in that zone where he plays off of the last defender and be clinical finishing.

 

Alexis is likely out for the season. What a disaster of a signing for United — he looks like he’s 50.

 

Who said that? He's very, very good at one particular thing. You can capture lightning in a bottle with that kind of skill (Barry Zito's curveball comes to mind) but eventually you get found out (Barry Zito's fastball comes to mind).

Last year Salah scored 44 goals across all competitions. Now he's in the same class as Messi. He's fucking not.

He had one incredible year. In his last two seasons with Roma, he scored 15 and 14 goals. This season he's on 17 with nine EPL games to go. He'll be lucky to reach half of last year's total. That's quite a drop! But it also puts him fairly in line with his Roma totals.

How's Messi doing this year? 33 goals in La Liga, Copa, and CL play, plus 13 assists.

Comparing their values last year, after Salah's singularly spectacular season, was asinine. Is Salah terrible? No. Have I ever said he was? No. Was he ever worth 250 million Euros? Never. I don't know how this is even an argument.

 

So now the argument boils down to Salah isn’t as good as Messi?

Stop. I’m scorched by that flaming hot take.