It’s been a mixed start for the Liverpool contingent at the Africa Cup of Nations with all three stars now featuring at the tournament.
Both Sadio Mane and Naby Keita enjoyed 1-0 victories in their opening matches with the former scoring for Senegal whilst the Guinea captain earned the man of the match award for his display.
However, Salah was left disappointed as Egypt succumbed 1-0 to a well organised Nigeria side thanks to a strike from Leicester City frontman Kelechi Iheanacho.
Taking to Twitter during and after the match, football supporters had their say on what was a strange game for the Anfield hero and compared the use of the forward to a previous Liverpool favourite.
Never seen a team be this clueless, no gameplan, no plan B to change the game. The managers teamtalk probably went like this 'Listen, just give Salah the ball and let him work his magic', even that didn't work since he got no service. I mean they were using him like Crouch lol
— Taimur Nadeem (@Taimurlfc) January 11, 2022
Those tactics by the coach poor poor poor 😢 defensive long balls salah playing a 9 what a shame
— Zamo (@Zamo05536065) January 11, 2022
Egypts tactics was really hoofball to Salah and inshallah… smh #AFCON2021
— B. Firmz 💫 (@_Kotekz) January 11, 2022
Egyptian team tactics; hoof the ball forward to Salah and hope for the best.
— Kimtai (@freddi_2) January 11, 2022
Egypt tactics. No Salah no party
— Kwame Benaiah (@kwamebenaiah) January 11, 2022
https://twitter.com/DistanceCovered/status/1480955167692447750
The 30-year-old earned a 6.10 Sofascore rating for a performance consisting of one shot on target, 35 touches and one missed big chance.
Capped on 73 occasions at the senior level by Egypt, Salah has a remarkable 43 goals and 24 assists for the African nation.
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Whilst this result isn’t necessarily the end of the road for Salah at AFCON, it does mean victory over both Guinea-Bissau and Sudan is almost a must.
For that to be possible, the manager of the Pharaohs, former Manchester United assistant Carlos Quieroz could be best served to find a way of getting Slah more involved in the game from his favoured right-wing role.
On form perhaps the best player in world football at present, very few Premier League defenders have been able to live with the £90million valued star and used appropriately, Salah could still taste success in Cameroon.
