Mo Salah’s appalling performance at Wembley Stadium in the Carabao Cup final shouldn’t take away from the grandiose nature of his record-breaking 2024/25 season.

That said, the Egyptian absolutely won’t be able to leave the English capital with his head held high after a vanishing act against Newcastle was witnessed by thousands.

Dan Burn provided the opener in the first half of action, amid a controversial penalty call, with Alexander Isak doubling the score for the Magpies in the following 45.

There can be no complaints from the Premier League table toppers, given that Eddie Howe’s men have dominated proceedings in London.

Mo Salah delivered a no-show performance vs Newcastle

We want to preface this with the obvious: We absolutely adore Salah and think the club should be doing everything they can to extend his terms at Anfield.

That said, our No.11 did absolutely nothing to help his argument with two successive ineffectual outings in two games of serious import in the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Sofascore, rather generously in our view, handed the right winger a 6.5/10 rating for his showing against Eddie Howe’s cup-winning side.

Mo Salah was largely invisible throughout, failing to register a single shot or attempt (never mind complete) a dribble down the right flank.

The footballer’s other supporting statistics hardly helped salvage what was a dismal performance in the offensive third:

→ 23 touches

→ 13/17 passes completed (76%)

→ 0 shots

→ 1/1 dribbles completed

→ 2/2 ground duels won

→ 0/1 aerial duels won

→ Lost possession 6x

Gary Neville noticed strange Salah occurence

The strangeness of the performance didn’t go unnoticed as far as Gary Neville, on comms for Sky Sports, was concerned.

“I’ve never seen Mo Salah as quiet as I have seen him in this game,” the former Manchester United star was quoted by BBC Sport.

“He has had three touches, 25 minutes into this second half.”

Perhaps more concerning is the fact Salah hasn’t registered a goal contribution from open play since a 2-0 win over Newcastle at the end of February.

It may simply be a bad patch for the former Roma man, which we can, of course, allow in a season that has otherwise yielded 54 goal contributions in 43 games (across all competitions).

That reason, and that reason alone, may be enough for Arne Slot to keep his cool.

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The post 3 touches in 25 mins & 0 shots: Slot will want to fire 6/10 Liverpool star into the sun appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.

The rest of the month has a wonderful selection of great movies finally hitting streaming platforms.

Anora

Anora follows Ani Mikheeva (Mikey Madison), a young sex worker in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach. She becomes involved with Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. Their rushed marriage pulls Ani into danger and manipulation, threatening her control over her life. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress so for it to finally be free with Hulu subscription is a big deal.

Wicked

Yes! Wicked is finally going to be available to stream for free. So get ready to rewatch or even if you’re so lucky watch it for the first time.

Holland

If you’re in dire need of a new Nicole Kidman thriller, Amazon has you covered with Holland, a murder mystery about a teacher who uncovers dark secrets beneath the charm of her small town. The thriller will stream on Amazon Prime this March.

Queer

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, this adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novel follows troubled American writer William Lee (Daniel Craig), whose drug addiction and volatile romance with a younger man (played by music star Omar Apollo) unravel in 1950s Mexico City.