{"id":1432,"date":"2019-01-14T18:14:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T18:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1432"},"modified":"2019-01-14T18:15:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T18:15:18","slug":"why-salah-narrative-shouldnt-be-ignored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/why-salah-narrative-shouldnt-be-ignored\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Salah Narrative Shouldn\u2019t Be Ignored"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Reds are magic. It\u2019s really important to remember that. We\u2019re top of the table and, at the time of writing, seven points clear of Manchester City. I\u2019d be absolutely amazed if they didn\u2019t beat Wolverhampton Wanderers later and reduce the gap to four points, but that\u2019s still impressive enough. City are, lest we forget, a team that scored sixteen goals in the space of two cup matches. They\u2019re the only side to score two goals against us in a Premier League game all season. They\u2019re the team that racked up a Premier League record one hundred points in the 2017-2018 campaign and are considered by many to be finest team that the English top-flight have ever seen play. Yet the worst that we can be heading into our next match is four points in front of them. We are a brilliant football team.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">There&#8217;s no denying that Pep has built an amazing ManCity squad with City management giving him more money to spend. On the other hand, Liverpool who doesn&#8217;t have an Arab backing, still are table toppers. Klopp has played his role amazingly.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pushkar Trivedi (@pushkarLFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pushkarLFC\/status\/1083290729386979328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve written recently about how important it is to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/dont-worry-about-the-destination-just-enjoy-the-journey\/\">enjoy this as much as possible<\/a>, with those saying that we <strong>need<\/strong> to win a trophy in order for it to be a success chatting absolute nonsense. We are watching arguably the best Liverpool side since the 1980s and trophies won\u2019t change that fact. Istanbul was one of the most exciting, thrilling and glorious moments of my life but, if we\u2019re all honest, the team that won the European Cup in 2005 was nowhere near as good as this one. Our Champions League win was as much to do with luck as it was talent and tactics. Does the win at the Attaturk Stadium mean that Rafa Benitez\u2019s team was better than this one? Not as far as I\u2019m concerned. This is one of the best teams I\u2019ve witnessed in my adult life and that\u2019s why I\u2019m so determined to celebrate it. I\u2019m worried about the prevailing narrative that has emerged recently, however, for more reasons than one.<\/p>\n<h2>The Narrative May Well Start To Influence Officials<\/h2>\n<p>You\u2019ll have to have been living under a rock to have missed the emerging narrative surrounding Mo Salah and diving. Having not received a penalty at Anfield for more than a calendar year, the Reds have been given four in the past six games. I would be the first to admit that the Egyptian has made the most of the contact in some of the games, with the Newcastle one being the standout, but I\u2019d also be quick to point out that I think every single one of them were penalties. There are numerous issues that confront those that call him a diver, not least of which is that players are given little choice but to exaggerate contact if referees refuse to give penalties when they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">When Liverpool don\u2019t get a single penalty at Anfield in 400 days despite countless good shouts &#8230; silence.<br \/>\nWhen Liverpool get 4 penalties in half a dozen games&#8230; national outrage!<br \/>\nSuck it up boys &#x1f60e;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brian Durand (@BrianDurand56) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrianDurand56\/status\/1084241803266670592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I would be amazed if every single referee that has given Liverpool a penalty over the past few weeks didn\u2019t look back over the footage and think that they made the right decision. Referees aren\u2019t idiots on the internet, easily swayed by what other people are tweeting, but professionals who know that they are judged by the decisions that they get wrong more than those that they get right. That\u2019s why I\u2019m concerned about this new narrative that Mohamed Salah is a diver; it might only seem like its the kooks and the cranks putting it out there at the moment, but the longer it goes on the more likely it is to play on the minds of referees taking charge of our matches.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-353\" src=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/football-referee-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/football-referee-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/football-referee-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/football-referee.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There are numerous Liverpool fans who are revelling in all of the moaning, who are enjoying it as a sign that we\u2019re doing well. My fear, however, is that it could yet develop into something that has an influence on the outcome of the title. Make no mistake, there will be occasions between now and the end of the season when we will have a genuine penalty shout. Whether or not we get given the spot-kick could be crucial, with huge matches against the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United still to come. What happens if we\u2019re drawing at Old Trafford with stoppage time left to play, Salah goes down under a heavy challenge and the referee thinks twice about awarding us the penalty because of the narrative that the Egyptian dives? We can\u2019t dismiss it as being enjoyable that everyone\u2019s fuming then.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Everyday I come on Twitter and everyday I see fans of other teams complaining about Liverpool. It&#8217;s absolutely glorious.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ste Hoare (@stehoare) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stehoare\/status\/1084785228395278336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s amusing right now that Evertonians are taking to Twitter every five minutes to declare us as the Devil\u2019s club. It\u2019s enjoyable enough to see fans of other clubs angry that we\u2019re getting decisions that are stopping them from winning points. The problem is that at some point it might well start to be such an overwhelming narrative that we fail to get results that we deserve because referees are only human. It\u2019s not as if the complaining has been limited to Twitter, with footballing neanderthals like Andy Gray and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/richardajkeys\/status\/1084776333467664384\">Richard Keys<\/a> also jumping on the bandwagon. That\u2019s to say nothing of managers such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goal.com\/en-gb\/news\/try-not-to-breathe-on-them-warnock-warns-cardiff-players-of\/66pdynirp23e10w4j6lyufeq0\">Neil Warnock<\/a> speaking out against Salah, presumably in order to plant the seed before we play his side for the second time.<\/p>\n<h2>It Might Drive The Egyptian Away<\/h2>\n<p>There are numerous reasons why Luis Suarez left Liverpool for Barcelona, not the least of which is the natural draw that South American players feel to the two major footballing powerhouses over in Spain. It\u2019s entirely fair to point out that the Uruguayan won\u2019t have been enamoured with England after the treatment that he received at the hands of the English press, which followed a remarkably similar pattern to the one that we\u2019re currently seeing play out with Mohamed Salah. First of all his natural talent was lauded, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2013\/sep\/24\/luis-suarez-upbringing-liverpool-book-extract\">papers doing stories about his origins as a player<\/a> and the hardships he went through. Then things began to turn the better that Liverpool were doing, including the narrative that he \u2018went down too easily\u2019 in order to win penalties, leading to his amusing celebration when he dived directly in front of David Moyes during the Merseyside derby.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A REMINDER:<\/p>\n<p>Luis Suarez answered Everton manager David Moyes claims he was a diver by celebrating with a dive in front of him &#x1f602;&#x1f602;<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/X0vIBXU6R6\">pic.twitter.com\/X0vIBXU6R6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Football Remind (@FootballRemind) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FootballRemind\/status\/1056599428520386560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The longer it went on, however, the more he began to be hounded by the press and booed by opposition supporters. Now Luis Suarez was absolutely not an angel and there were plenty of things that he could be validly criticised for, but I\u2019m not convinced that diving was one of them. Not that people in this country care that much about diving anyway, they just care when it\u2019s not being done by an Englishman. In that very derby, for example, it was actually Phil Neville rather than our number 9 that threw himself to the ground in order to try to con the referee and promptly got pulled up on it. That bullying tactic by the press is something that the carry out regularly on players that they want out of the country because they don\u2019t like the team that they\u2019re playing for. Raheem Sterling at Manchester City is the exception that proves the rule, being treated despicably in spite of the fact that he\u2019s English. That he\u2019s rich, gifted and black doesn\u2019t help his cause.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Salah-533x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Salah-533x400.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Salah-267x200.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Salah-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Salah-65x50.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>How long will Salah be willing to put up with constant attacks from the press and opposition managers before he starts to think about an easier life elsewhere? How long before the lure of Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain becomes preferable to having to defend your reputation from ludicrous attacks from know-it-alls? The Egyptian comes across as a genuine, nice and humble guy in his interviews, knowing exactly how difficult it was for him to get where he is in life. When it gets to the point that an opposition team\u2019s supporters start booing him before he\u2019s even done anything then I can well imagine that he thinks it\u2019s not really worth sticking around here any longer, which is perhaps exactly what those in the media are hoping.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Vardy did this today but he\u2019s not Salah and Leicester are not top of the league so you won\u2019t hear anything about it <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WJg6zbYiJh\">pic.twitter.com\/WJg6zbYiJh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jonathan (@JCLFC_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JCLFC_\/status\/1084256116262035457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 13, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\u201cutf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m more than aware that rival supporters will declare this to be something akin to victim-status, but it can\u2019t be ignored that the idea of Liverpool winning a title terrifies some people in the football world. They love the idea of us being admirable failures, never quite hitting the heights of media darlings Manchester United in terms of leagues won. All of our most recent trophies fit that narrative because the wins were either spectacular, like Istanbul and the FA Cup win over West Ham, or else we scraped by as when we beat Cardiff in the League Cup under Kenny Dalglish. Just as the city of Liverpool should \u2018know its place\u2019, so too should the club avoid getting above its station according to the likes of Keys and Gray. This narrative isn\u2019t just designed to get under Salah\u2019s skin, it\u2019s also primed to stop us from winning the title by influencing the officials.<\/p>\n<h2>Conspiracy In Our Favour? No, They Were Just Penalties<\/h2>\n<p>The maddest thing about everything that\u2019s been going on, up to and including the idea that there is some sort of conspiracy to ensure that Liverpool win the title, is that they were all penalties. In the game against Crystal Palace, Mamadou Sakho had two or three nibbles at the Egyptian before kicking his foot out from under him. There wasn\u2019t a debate, it wasn\u2019t controversial, it was just a penalty. In the same match, Aaron Wan-Bissaka tried to trip him up a couple of times before eventually succeeding and being sent off as a result, despite the suggestions from some that it was yet another dive. Add to that the foul by Sokratis on Salah in the match against Arsenal that was yet another stonewall penalty.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Goodnight, fellow Reds. I feel I can sleep more soundly tonight, safe in the knowledge that, according to fans of other teams, there\u2019s a vast conspiracy, involving the Premier League, referees, and others, to make sure we win the league. Should be a walk in the park, then.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Hewitt (@ChrisHewittLFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisHewittLFC\/status\/1084610799358918656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve said countless times before <a href=\"www.twitter.com\/andcouldheplay7\">on my Twitter account<\/a>, football is hypocrisy. Every single club has players that go down too easily from time to time in order to win penalties; we might not like it, but it\u2019s the nature of the sport. This jumping on the bandwagon of Mo Salah being the only one who has won soft penalties is all the more ridiculous because of the fact that all but one of them have been stonewall examples of what a penalty should be. Had he been booked instead of given a spot-kick against Newcastle then I\u2019d have understood it, even though I think it was a pen. Those peddling the idea that we\u2019re benefitting from generous refereeing can\u2019t possibly believe it unless they also think their club shouldn\u2019t be given penalties for similar infractions. It\u2019s not a conspiracy, our players are just being fouled in the box.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Reds are magic. It\u2019s really important to remember that. We\u2019re top of the table and, at the time of writing, seven points clear of Manchester City. I\u2019d be absolutely amazed if they didn\u2019t beat Wolverhampton Wanderers later and reduce the gap to four points, but that\u2019s still impressive enough. City are, lest we forget, a team that scored sixteen goals in the space of two cup matches. They\u2019re the only side to score two goals against us in a Premier League game all season. They\u2019re the team that racked up a Premier League record one hundred points in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1434,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions\/1434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}