An A-Z of Liverpool F.C., Part 10

Just 'S'

S

Salah

Well is he?

Not staying or leaving. I mean, is he Liverpool’s GOAT?

Our Egyptian King stands right up there in the rarefied terrain occupied by Gerrard, Dalglish, Rush, Souness and Barnes. It’s not just the number of goals across many seasons but the staggering quality of many of them. The incutting left-footed curler into the top corner may be his trademark, but there have been incredible dribbles and stunning solo goals as he slalomed past a series of bamboozled defenders - think Spurs, Manchester City and Watford at Anfield - remarkable, mesmerising deft footwork, instant control and clinical icy calmness in front of goal, and increasingly in his later career, defence-carving threaded assists for other players. Add blistering speed and acceleration (now understandably slowing a bit as he approaches his mid-30s) and remarkable strength in holding off opponents and you have a truly elite player, one of the world’s best, even if those at Ballon d’Or refuse to recognise it. You can only speculate how many more goals he’d have added if fouling him inside, or for that matter outside, the penalty area was actually regarded as an offence by match officials.

Given all that, and admittedly with the benefit of hindsight, the £43.9m Liverpool paid Roma for Mo in summer 2017 looks almost like theft, even if it was a club record fee at the time.

In January 2014, although Liverpool were interested even then, Salah opted for Stamford Bridge when he left Basel. But having failed to make an impression, he was loaned to Fiorentina for the second half of 2014/15, then to Roma, where he reignited his career, scoring 29 goals in 65 league appearances from wide positions.

When he moved to Liverpool, it’s fair to say that he has exceeded all expectations since.

In 2017/18, he went on to score 44 goals, the second-highest total of any player in the club's history. That season culminated in bitter disappointment, in the Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kyiv, when he was forced off the pitch with a badly injured shoulder after what could euphemistically be described as a challenge by Sergio Ramos, with Liverpool losing 3-1.

Another 22 Premier League goals followed the next season, and on 1st June 2019 he got his Champions League winners medal, at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, converting a second-minute penalty against Spurs along the way to the club’s sixth European champions trophy.

The league title came next, the club’s first since 1990, as it finally got that monkey off its back. In truth it was more like a 10 ton gorilla. The attacking trident of Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane were pivotal in Liverpool’s and manager Klopp’s successes, with Salah almost talismanic by now.

2021/22 was another impressive season for Salah, netting 31 goals from 51 appearances in all competitions. The following season, Salah broke the thirty goal barrier for the third consecutive season, including a seven minute hat trick away to Rangers in the Champions League. He reached Steven Gerrard’s total of 186 goals in just 305 appearances compared to the midfield maestro’s 710.

Despite interest from the Saudi League and PSG, and with no new contract yet offered or signed, at the age of 33 he remains a serious contender for the title of world’s best footballer. He has always kept himself very fit and missed very few games during his years at Anfield. During the current season he already has 13 goals in 20 appearances, and now stands 5th in the club’s all-time goalscorers list on 224, only 4 behind Billy Liddell and 17 behind Gordon Hodgson. Only Roger Hunt on 285 and Ian Rush with 346 seem beyond his reach.

As it is, he has won a Premier League and a Champions League (with hopes of adding to that), an FA Cup, a League Cup, a FIFA Club World Cup and a European Super Cup.

On a personal level he has been awarded African Footballer of the Year twice, 22018, PFA Player of the Year twice, Football Writers' Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season; Golden Boot, Premier League Playmaker of the Season, and quite possibly the Grand National and the Boat Race!

We have been lucky to witness many great players wearing the liver bird, and Mohamed Salah is right up there with the very best of them.

Scousers

People from Liverpool are known as scousers and the dialect known as scouse. But where does it originate from?

The short answer is Scandinavia, and especially Norway.

The term derives from ‘lobskause’, a stew-type meal that was brought to the city by sailors from Scandinavia. People outside of Liverpool when visiting sampled and enjoyed the dish so much so that outsiders nicknamed the people of Liverpool scousers after the dish.

(As an aside, the same meal is known in the Potteries area as ‘lobby’. Basically, they clung on to the second syllable and Merseyside the first! A very similar dish, known as Labskaus, is still popular in and around another port city, Hamburg.)

It’s typically made from meat, potatoes and carrots, quite often using left over meat from a Sunday roast, and often served with pickled red cabbage and white bread. There is also a vegetarian version, called "blind scouse".

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