Mo Salah talks goal records, looking ahead and Manchester United
Mohamed Salah has expressed his pride and thanked his teammates after setting yet another goalscoring record for Liverpool.
The Egyptian’s unerring, instinctive finish against Newcastle United last weekend saw him become the first Reds player in history to reach the 20-goal mark in three separate Premier League seasons.
“I’m proud to score goals for a club like Liverpool,” Salah told Premier League Productions.
“The record in the Premier League is something huge for me and something that makes me proud. I just need to keep working hard and just achieve more for the club and for myself, and also I can’t just say it’s about me.
“It’s also about the players; they also try to help all the time and give me the ball in front of the goal, so I want to thank them also for that achievement. They are a big part of it.”
Salah heads into this weekend’s round of fixtures one goal behind Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot.
When asked if he can earn the accolade for the division’s leading marksman for a third time, he replied: “Maybe!
“I think the main target for the team and for me is to be in fourth place and to play in the Champions League. That’s the main target, that’s the most important thing.”
Salah was speaking ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Manchester United on Sunday. Read on for more from his pre-match interview…
On why the Reds have struggled to replicate the highs of last season in 2020-21…
Well, I don’t want to give any excuses but I think we started the season really well and then we had a few injuries and we also struggled to win some games. But it’s part of the game. I don’t want to put my finger on some points - we could do better but this is part of the game. We were unlucky, so let’s finish the season in the best possible way and then think about winning the Premier League next season again.
On whether a decline was inevitable to a degree due to Liverpool’s high-intensity style of play…
No, I don’t think so, I don’t think so. If you look at the games, like in the last game we created a lot of chances but we didn’t score. It’s not about the intensity because we still can reach the goalie and we still can miss chances. We started the season very well, we were first in the table, and then we had a drop… so that is why we are in the situation like we are now.
On the reasons behind the team’s drop-off in terms of being clinical in front of goal…
I don’t know. I think maybe because the game after Crystal Palace we started drawing and losing some points and maybe some players lost some confidence in scoring goals or something. But I don’t mean anything bad about my teammates, I am just saying that maybe this could be part of the reason. But I think it is part of the game: you miss a chance and you just need to carry on and keep going forward for the next chance [and] to have that mindset that you’re going to score, you’re going to score, you’re going to score, it will come anyway. But I think in some games we go to the game with some pressure that we must win now and I think this affects us in the game.
Inside Training: Goals and shooting drills ahead of United clash
On whether that pressure has increased due to Liverpool not winning games as regularly…
I think that’s what happened because we started the season really well and everybody was saying we were going to win the Premier League again, and since we started to drop points you start to feel the pressure more… you feel ‘now we’re going to lose it, we’re going to lose the Premier League’ and the pressure comes higher and higher. And we had the injuries: we lost Hendo in his position, we lost Fabinho in his position and of course we lost all the centre-backs, so it was tough for us to handle that. But this is football and you have to expect everything.
On the players having meetings to discuss their situation this season…
Yeah, we had a couple of meetings before and we were talking about everything. Some of the captains were talking about the situation and everything, but that is something private. I can’t talk about it here!
We are teammates and we are good friends as well. We are a group, so I think our relationship is good between all of us. I can see the players here are very humble and very nice, so I think we are a nice group.
On how the lack of fans in stadiums has affected the Reds…
It’s hard for us, especially when you play in Anfield with no fans - it’s harder. It affected us a lot. We just try to win but sometimes you go to the game and you don’t see the fans behind you [or have them] giving you another push or something. I don’t think it’s only for us, it’s [the same] for all the other teams, but I think other teams are not getting the same benefit [of a full stadium] as us because Anfield always gives us another push and the fans are always behind us. So we are affected by that.
On the difference between challenging for the title and a place in the top four at this stage of the campaign…
I think it is hard. The pressure is higher and higher and it’s more difficult for us because now you just feel like you have to win every game. But I think what we can do is take one game at a time and just focus on it and don’t think about the other four games. Man United we are going to play in the next game [so] just focus on that game and leave the other four for later on. It’s hard but it’s part of our job.
On the significance of Sunday’s match…
It’s a really big game and everybody in the world is waiting for that game. I think it means for Man United a lot to beat us as well, to stop us playing in the Champions League. I understand that but for us it is more motivation. We want to play in the Champions League so it is a big motivation for us, so we just need to try to win the next game, give everything and we will see what happens.
It’s one of the biggest games - I would love to play it all the time!
On Liverpool striving for momentum in the run-in…
I think it’s hard to talk about the last two games, I think we could do better. We could have won the last game and we would be in a little bit of a better situation, but now we just need to focus on the next five games. If you are thinking about the other games it doesn’t change anything now, so we just need to focus on the next five games and that’s it.