Stats Analysis of Mohamed Salah – Liverpool’s key player vs Bournemouth
Liverpool continued their charge in the Premier League with a handsome 4-0 win away at the Vitality against Bournemouth. This is such an impressive victory given how the Cherries have played this season, especially at their home turf.
It is true that they were missing star man Callum Wilson but the way the Reds controlled the game for most parts, it would have been difficult for Eddie Howe’s men even with the aforementioned striker on the pitch.
After Manchester City’s loss to Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp’s men are now on top of the table, ahead by one point and remain the only team yet to be beaten in the division. For a record, they have won all of their five previous league games, and you would there is more to come from them, especially in the attacking department.
There is one attacker who was on course on the day and thrashed Bournemouth with a devastating hat-trick – Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian was at it from the start to end and the Cherries defenders found it a bit too hard to handle him.
Below we analyse his performance and use some stats to back those analytical points:
Stats Analysis – Mohamed Salah
We have witnessed the star man playing in a slightly different role this season, especially in the past month or so. This is partly because Liverpool lack goals from midfielders, hence, they rely on their front three or four players to do the bulk of the scoring. The other part of this jigsaw is that teams have understood how Salah will operate if he is playing as a right winger cutting inside.
Hence, Klopp was clever to change his system and switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the Egyptian as a solo striker. Roberto Firmino is doing a similar job of playing in a hole, and now the Brazilian has a willing runner in front of him.
Looking at some of the stats of the hattrick scorer, he had four attempts on goal, three on target and one off target. He attempted six dribbles and was successful in five, which is astonishing, to say the least.
The 26-year-old supplied two key passes, meaning he is not far away from creating a chance for others as well. He won 7 of the 11 duels in the game.
It was certainly a performance which sent a message to the title rivals that Liverpool are here to do the business. The way Salah played this game, he could just be picking his peak at the right time for the Reds.
Stats COurtesy – Sofascore.com