Mohamed Salah truth over Liverpool form is clear but…

Mohamed Salah truth over Liverpool form is clear but team-mates need to help him

There are many ways to create chances in football but some are inevitably more successful than others. Fans will roar when their team wins a corner yet only around three per cent of them result in a goal being scored.

Little more than one in every 100 crosses leads to a goal, but the conversion rate rises to around 11 per cent for chances created from such a delivery. Far more effective are through ball passes, though, as Liverpool know better than most.

On average, 25 per cent of opportunities fashioned via through balls find the back of the net. It makes sense they are more effective as they are defined as “a pass splitting the defence for a team-mate to run on to”; a player receiving one is almost certainly clean through on goal.

At their deadliest and most successful, Jurgen Klopp’s side have been above average at converting through ball chances. They scored with around 37 per cent of them in the Premier League both in 2019/20 and last season, winning the title and falling a point short respectively.

While they are a touch below par for turning through ball opportunities into assists this season, they are creating them more frequently than any time since Philippe Coutinho was pulling the strings for Brendan Rodgers back in 2013/14. Their key man this term is Mohamed Salah.

In the league, the Egyptian has created three chances from through balls, the same total as Thiago Alcantara and Roberto Firmino. However, four of Liverpool’s total of seven in the Champions League this season have stemmed from Salah’s boot.

The latest grateful recipient of one of his defence-splitting passes in Europe was Darwin Nunez, who then used an impudent back-heeled flick to open the scoring against Real Madrid. It was merely one of a recent flurry of through ball chances which have involved Liverpool’s number 11.

Salah assisted Harvey Elliott for a goal – again the opener – in the Reds’ FA Cup tie at Brighton in January. The combination had worked in similar fashion in the opposite direction earlier in the match too.

After only completing one through ball across their next two matches (though it created a decent opportunity for Nunez at Molineux), both Liverpool goals at St James’ Park were set up with this style of delivery. Salah assisted Cody Gakpo with one there, and also created arguably the Reds’ best opening in their draw with Crystal Palace for the Dutchman in this fashion last weekend. The net result is that the 30-year-old set up Opta-defined clear-cut chances with through balls in three successive matches, and four times in a run of six games.

Concerns have been raised that Salah is not in goal-scoring positions often enough this season, though his strike against Wolves may have eased those worries a little. But if he can keep creating golden opportunities then that minimises the issue.

After all, Salah is both top scorer and leading assist provider for the Reds in all competitions this season, and only Nunez has been the receiver for more through ball clear-cut chances. Indeed, there have been just five which have occurred with Salah on the pitch for which he didn’t play the key pass or take the shot.

Liverpool will need to be wary of through balls going in the other direction at Anfield on Sunday. Manchester United have already picked up 10 assists from them in the league in this campaign, a total only 10 sides have topped in the previous 13 Premier League seasons. But if the Reds get an opportunity to thread a pass through the visitors’ back line, it might help if Salah is the man on the ball.

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