Arne Slott talks about how Mohamed Salah and Liverpool can extend their relationship beyond the end of the season after Mohamed Salah hit the bar with a brace and another goal against Premier League leaders Newcastle hinted that it could still be found. .
Liverpool's manager was full of praise for Salah, whose record for top scorers in the league has increased to nine in the last seven games, following his game-changing second-half performance.
“Every time we need Mo, he scores a goal,” Slott said, responding to a question about the potential outcome of Salah's complicated contract extension negotiations with the Anfield board. “We hope and expect that he can continue this for a long time. He was outstanding in the second half and did a lot of special things for us. His influence was enormous.
“It's hard to predict the future, but Mo is in an incredible position in a very good team and given the opportunity at the moment, he can achieve something special. He didn't play his best game, but then he did something that a lot of players don't do. He's a special player. His finishing is very clinical. He leads by example. I've been training very hard, so it's no surprise that I've done so well.”
The visiting manager was not entirely satisfied. “I have mixed feelings,” Slott said. “We were great in the second half, but not so good in the first half. Maybe 3-3 was the right score for this game. For our first game, we had problems with their intensity and aggressive pressing style. We forced too many mistakes in the first half, but in the second half it was difficult to recreate the intensity we had in the first 45 minutes, but it's a difficult game to play against Newcastle. It has a high quality.”
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe was apparently relieved by his team's much improved performance, with Alexander Isak, who had been out of form recently, stepping up as a centre-forward, with the Swedish striker scoring one goal and Fabian in the second half. -Anthony Gordon added another point before Schaal scored the equalizer. “Liverpool were the best team we've played this season,” he said. “But I have mixed feelings, it's a shame we didn't win. It was Alex (Isak)'s best performance of the season. We need more of them.
“But tonight we had everything we want to be, the body language, the pressure, the attitude. We were more like ourselves. I thought Anthony (Gordon) was electric. But we need to consistently achieve those standards.”
