Scout Notes – Salah On The Spot

Liverpool make short work of Huddersfield on a night that comes good for most Fantasy managers…eventually.

Some 17.6% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, including 33 of the top 100, hoped to hit the Gameweek 25 ground running by handing Mohamed Salah the captaincy on Tuesday night.

It wasn’t the riskiest of propositions.

The Egyptian, after all, had produced a goal or assist in 13 of his previous 15 appearances and was facing a Terriers side that had lost three straight league matches and managed just one clean sheet in eight.

What followed was a sustained bout of unease for more than a million managers as Huddersfield sat deep and Salah laboured.

Liverpool began to exorcise the demons of last week’s losses to Swansea and West Brom as soon as Emre Can’s deflected shot put them ahead, and the match was as good as won when Roberto Firmino doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time.

The Brazilian finished smartly at the near post after Sadio Mane’s flick sent him clear in the penalty area, punishing the 107,000+ managers who sold him for the Gameweek with a sixth goal in seven starts.

But Salah’s night wasn’t going nearly so smoothly.

Denied the space to run in behind the Huddersfield back five, he was restricted to just three goal attempts all night – indeed, his total of two efforts in the box was doubled by Mane on the opposite flank.

It took a foul in the area on Can, who was awarded maximum bonus on the night, and a decidedly public squabble as to who should take the resultant penalty, for Salah to finally make his mark in the 78th minute.

Firmino’s miss from the spot in the FA Cup loss to West Brom had clearly led to a change in Liverpool’s designated penalty taker.

Once Salah had stroked home the spot-kick, he immediately turned to thank James Milner, which rather gave the game away as to who should have been the man to make it 3-0 on the night.

Speaking post-match, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp was in laissez-faire mode, presumably because Salah managed not to miss – his last penalty, ironically also against Huddersfield, was saved by Jonas Lossl in Gameweek 10.

“I love when players discuss on the pitch! My fault, I thought it was clear but obviously I left a little bit of space for interpretation. It was not 100 per cent clear obviously, but in the end the most important thing is that the ball went in – and we didn’t have that too often, to be honest! But yippee, now Mo has probably qualified for the next penalty.”

Yippee indeed for Salah owners if a man with 19 league goals is also back on spot kicks.

Milner’s generosity, or Salah’s persuasiveness, meant the latter ended up with eight points on the night; a tally once again not boosted by any bonus.

Despite producing six goals and four assists in his last seven league appearances, Salah has managed to accrue just three bonus points in that period – by comparison, he’d managed 15 bonus in the opening 17 Gameweeks. While his relentless scoring continues to lend itself to the captaincy, that recent propensity to miss out on extra points has somewhat hindered the ceiling he can achieve.

Firmino, with two, and Dejan Lovren were the others to take home bonus points last night as the defender returned to partner Joel Matip at centre-half at the expense of Virgil van Dijk.

That was a blow for the Dutchman’s 42,000+ new owners who missed out on a rare Liverpool clean sheet away from home – they’ve managed just three in 13 trips to date.

Klopp justified his decision on a couple of grounds.

“It’s completely normal. They have played longer together than Virgil has played. Plus, the fitness thing. It’s clear that in half a year Virgil will be a completely different player to last week or next week. This for today was simply a physical thing.”

Van Dijk’s 5.3% ownership will now hope that yesterday’s rest strengthens the likelihood of his return for Gameweek 26’s visit from Spurs.

That’s one of four home matches in the next six, with clean sheets far more likely against their other visitors – West Ham, Newcastle and Watford. Yet Klopp’s decision to rotate in the heart of defence may now persuade many to steer clear.

As for Huddersfield, they were hopelessly stifled by their own chronic lack of ambition.

Coach David Wagner’s back five included Terence Kongolo, who impressed on his full debut, while Laurent Depoitre and Steve Mounie played up front as a pair for the first time and promptly received little or no service.

The Terriers’ defensive game plan went out of the window once Liverpool had scored, and their response was feeble.

They mustered just five shots all night, and most of those came when the score was already 3-0 – indeed, substitute Tom Ince fired three of those attempts in just 11 minutes of pitch-time.

With trips to Man United and Spurs to come over the next four Gameweeks, ownership in their most popular assets Lossl (7.4%), Zanka (6.8%), Depoitre (6.3%) and Aaron Mooy (6.2%) is likely to mirror the downward trajectory of the side as a whole.

Instead, Fantasy managers will be prioritising some investment in the United attack with the Gameweek 26 Old Trafford clash in mind.