To err is human, to forgive divine. As a coda to this: to err massively and hilariously is also human, as anyone who writes about sport can confirm. It is a common experience to find oneself wincing a little at the way things turn out in the real world, even when the way things turn out is also a source of pure sporting pleasure.
[img]http://www.saintsshopfootballofficial.com/images/products/nike_n... of which is a prelude to a mea culpa. Yes: I was a Salah doubter. Or at least a nonplussed observer. My Guardian pre-season Premier League preview from last August contained the following dismissive summary of Jürgen Klopp’s transfer business: “Liverpool have bought a good left-back and spent an awful lot of money on Mohamed Salah.” Let’s just read that back. An awful. Lot of. Money. Mo Salah for £35m. Lol. Laughing weeping face emoji. Do I get paid for this stuff?
But then this is the joy and, indeed, the whole point of watching and playing sport. Whatever you say about it, [url=http://www.officialsanaheimducks.com/Adidas-Josh-Manson-Jersey]http://www.o... that’s what it’s not. It thumbs its nose, rips up your preconceptions.
In mitigation those tossed-off thoughts were written just before the four biggest transfers of all time took place, kicked off by the financial inanity of Neymar’s move to Paris Saint-Germain. Shortly afterwards Barcelona paid three times Salah’s fee for Ousmane Dembélé. By the end of the summer £35m was looking, if not small potatoes, then smaller potatoes. Right now it looks like one of the outstanding bargains of the last 10 years.
But then, even those who knew Salah’s game in intimate detail, who spoke [url=http://www.nflcoltsofficialstore.com/Super-Bowl-Jon-Bostic-Jersey]Jon Bostic Youth jersey excitedly of his deeds in Serie A, will surely be a bit surprised at the sheer extent of his instant, exhilarating success under Klopp, a thing to be studied and marvelled at on its own terms.
With seven games to go Salah is the player of the season. He Womens Y.A. Tittle Jersey has 28 league goals, four more than Harry Kane and seven more than Sergio Agüero, capped by those four against Watford at the weekend. He also has nine assists, surpassed only by Leroy Sané and David Silva. Only Eden Hazard, Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend have made more successful dribbles. Only Kane has had more shots.
A nice touch too: despite playing in a bruising, full-throttle team Salah has yet to be shown any kind of card this season. There is a truism that good footballers need to have something nasty about them. Salah is merciless in many ways. But he kills you with a smile.
The numbers are, of course, just a part of it. It was not a goal or a man-of-the-match performance that revealed the full dawning Salah-ness of Salah to this observer. It was instead the 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Anfield in October, a game dominated by José Mourinho’s defensive organisation.
Even here Salah just stood out, the only player on the pitch able to turn and surge away through the defensive lines. He made eight dribbles in 73 minutes, more than United’s entire midfield http://www.... and attack put together. More than this, he seemed a relentlessly optimistic player, football as reinterpreted by a gerbil superhero. Legs whirring, head up, chest out.
Fast forward to Watford at the weekend and Salah has begun to make parts of the game look like a mismatch, the way only the very best can. The hat-trick goal at Anfield will remain one of the images of the season, those three Watford defenders squished together in front of Salah, tottering on their heels as this miracle of balance and speed springs to his left then springs back, leaving the yellow shirts collapsing helplessly like a row of derelict tenement houses. Even the finish is a lovely detail, the ball swished past Orestis Karnezis with an impudent playground shuffle. [url=http://www.authenticnflcheapjerseys.us.com]wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys wholesale nfl jerseys from china wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys