Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has claimed Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane aren’t ‘natural finishers’.
The duo have been regular contributors for the Reds over recent seasons, with Salah, in particular, setting the world alight since arriving from AS Roma in 2017.
After scoring 32 times in his debut season on Merseyside, the Egyptian followed up that campaign with 22 and 19 strikes in the following two seasons.
Despite netting his 20th league goal this term in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle on Saturday, Owen told Premier League Productions (via Metro), neither Salah nor Mane find goalscoring comes easy.
That’s the problem, Mane, a brilliant player, scores lots of goals. Salah, an unbelievable player as well, scores lots of goals. But they’re not natural finishers, they’re not someone that you can hang your hat on. They’ve scored goals consistently because Liverpool have, like today, created so many chances. But they’ve been wanting, or the team have been found wanting a lot of the season with missed chances.
In 411 appearances between them for the Reds, the pair have managed 217 goals, a hugely impressive return regardless of whether the art comes naturally or not.
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Whilst the claim seems farfetched given the numbers both have hit during their Liverpool careers, it’s perhaps not too far wide of the mark when you consider the chances squandered this season especially,
Saturday was just another in a long line of performances this term when the forwards have had presentable chances to clinch all three points, failing to do so, only to be hurt at the other end.
Injuries have undoubtedly hurt Jurgen Klopp’s campaign more than any other factor, however, wasteful forwards have also played a major role in the demise.
