After his three goals and the beginning hype about Mohamed Salah, one might think that in a few thousand years he could arouse similar fascination in his descendants as Tutankhamun, that ancient Egyptian pharaoh, whose tomb in the Valley of the Kings was once intact and not by archaeologists Found looted by grave robbers. The Egyptian striker Filou of Liverpool FC became the first player in the Premier League to score a three-pack at arch-rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. He has now replaced the unforgettable Didier Drogba (104 / Ivory Coast) as the top African scorer on the island with 107 goals (and 43 assists) in 167 first division games.
His fans have long glorified him in a chant as the “Egyptian king” and consider him a wonder of the world like the great pyramid of Giza. Otherwise it could hardly be explained that Salah has scored in ten competitive games in a row with sometimes extraordinary sophistication, including against champions Manchester City and Champions League winners Chelsea FC. Only on the second match day, when he won at home over Burnley FC, did he miss his own goals this season. But that felt as long ago as writing records on papyrus.
The revelation sparked a storm of indignation in the British media – coach Solskjaer was questioned
With his hat trick, which also brought him the ball as a memento, Salah confirmed his exceptional position in world football on Sunday. No player from the Manchester United squad comes close to him, who at the moment only knows most of the players in the squad who believe of themselves to be the Oscar of football – and who played the same way against Liverpool.
In a shockingly poor performance, the record champions conceded the highest home defeat since 1955 with a 0: 5, when the team of coach Matt Busby lost to city rivals City with the same result. Without actually having seen each of the five Liverpool goals, the result should read like a typo. Never before in the 126-year clash between the two clubs had United experienced a higher attrition in front of their own audience.
The revelation sparked a storm of indignation in the island media. the Times recognized a “total humiliation” for United, the tabloid press aimed sharply at coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The mass paper went the roughest Sun before that mocked him on the title as “Wally” Gunnar Solskjaer. A nasty allusion to the former English national coach Steve McClaren, who went down in history as a fool with the umbrella (“The Wally with the Brolly”) when he missed the qualification for the European Championship 2008 after his inactivity in the pouring rain.
On the next page, the newspaper demanded the immediate dismissal of the fan-favorite Norwegian because he did not have the competence to run the “elite club”: “If United does not fire him, he should resign himself!” The criticism was devastating because Solskjaer admitted in his defense speech that he felt “on the ground” and that bankruptcy was the “darkest day” of his three years in Manchester, but at the same time he was convinced that he was “on the right” Way “to be.
Passed through to mid-table: Manchester United has not won the league for four games – although coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (right) has one of the world’s best players in Cristiano Ronaldo.
(Photo: Martin Rickett / PA Images / imago)
After four league games without a win (with three defeats), Manchester have been passed into the middle of the table and are already eight points behind leaders Chelsea on matchday nine. In the stands, Alex Ferguson, United’s coach for 27 years, shook his head in horror. Probably Solskjaer would have been removed from office at other top clubs after such a result, but as a former Ferguson pupil he is apparently still in the favor of his influential mentor – and benefits from the fact that the club seldom comes from the managing director Ed Woodward, who is leaving at the end of the year get carried away with hasty decisions.
This approach was evident in Solskjaer’s prominent predecessors, José Mourinho and Louis van Gaal, who, despite obvious differences with some players, were supported by the American club investor family Glazer for a surprisingly long time. the Times therefore asked: “Can the Glazers afford another dragging farewell?”
With second place in the championship of the previous season, Solskjaer successfully completed the change of mood in the club after his controversial predecessor Mourinho had handed him a team that was marked by disagreements. But with Cristiano Ronaldo added in the summer for 140 million euros, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho – which caused the transfer expenses under Solskjaer to rise to almost half a billion euros – the expectation was that they would finally be able to play for the championship again after eight seasons.
The inadequacies are all the more significant when on the other side is Liverpool, trained by Jürgen Klopp
However, Solskjaer fails to develop a team from the potpourri of sonorous individual players whose idea is based on more than a wait-and-see counter game. Accordingly, his misjudgment of suddenly letting the team attack early against Liverpool was correspondingly fatal, although the types necessary for a running-intensive attack game are not available. Especially not since the return of 36-year-old Ronaldo, whose habitus as a center forward is not designed to support his teammates on the defensive. Promptly there was no coordination in the fore-checking, the parts of the team fell apart and the defense panicked as a result.
Naby Keita (5th), Diogo Jota (13th) and Salah (38th, 45th + 5, 50th) scored their goals with ease. Probably out of frustration with the score and his involvement on the field only in the second half, the French world champion Paul Pogba picked up the red card (60th) – after a bad kick on the shin by Keita, who had to be replaced injured. The inadequacies of the industry giant are all the more significant when on the other side is Liverpool, trained by Jürgen Klopp. He hailed an “insane result” and a “great day” for his club: “People will talk about the game for a long time because that won’t happen for the foreseeable future, if at all.”
To top it off, Mohamed Salah, 29, announced around the game that he wanted to end his career on the River Mersey. His contract expires in June 2023, but there is still no agreement on his future salary with the club. Of course he had heard of this project, said Klopp happily. He thinks that Salah is enjoying his football and he hopes it will go on for a “long, long, long” period.