Gabby Agbonlahor tells Liverpool ace Mo Salah to stop doing something Lionel Messi has done throughout his career if he wants to recapture form

Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor believes Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah should stop copying Lionel Messi's defensive actions if he wants to regain his form. The Egyptian scored 34 goals and set up 23 more from 52 games in all competitions last campaign, but hasn't been in his element this season.

The 33-year-old has registered three goals and three assists from seven outings so far and was particularly poor in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, October 4. Following the game, Marc Cucurella revealed that he had exploited the space left behind by Salah to set up Estevao Willian's 96th-minute winner.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Agbonlahor insisted that Salah cannot afford to be as lacadiasical as Messi in his defensive actions.

“The defensive part is right (about the criticism towards Salah) because the number of times Cucurella is going forward and it's two-v-one on Conor Bradley and Salah sort of tries to press a little bit then just stops and relaxes like we have seen [Lionel] Messi do time and time again over his career," said Agbonhalhor.

He continued:

“Liverpool can't afford to be a man down defensively. You can tell when Mo Salah is not at it because defenders are starting to [say]: 'Go on try and run me'. Cucurella and [Benoit] Badiashile were getting really tight to him and said: 'Go on try to run me on the outside' and whenever he did, they took the ball off him.

He concluded:

"It's hard to criticise Mo Salah, It just doesn't feel right but Arne Slot has probably got to look at it and say: 'You've got to do your defensive responsibilities’. In the first half, with the outside of the boot and Isak puts it over the bar. If he scores that, you’re going: ‘Wow, Mo Salah’. He’s still got the levels of quality he has shown over his career.”

Liverpool are second in the league table after seven games this season, a point behind leaders Arsenal.

How many goals has Lionel Messi scored against Liverpool in his career?

Lionel Messi has faced Liverpool just four times in his career, all in the Champions League during his time with Barcelona. La Pulga has scored two goals against the Merseyside club in his career.

The Argentine last faced the Reds in the semifinals in 2019, where the Catalans lost 4-0 at home to exit the tournament. Liverpool, interestingly, would go on to win the title.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over seven years at Sportskeeda. He has written nearly 10000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 21 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Deepungsu Pandit