Any player can look great on a YouTube video that sums up a season in five minutes and omits all errors (although we at FFT still prefer the one where a knee-knackered footballer runs gingerly on a treadmill for 60 seconds to prove their Ultimate Fitness to gullible scouts).
It’s harder to cheat data taken from every game, however, and so the boffins at @STATSInsightsUK have crunched the numbers on new Liverpool signing Mo Salah’s impact on Roma.
The Egyptian’s pace and dynamic counter-attacking are widely thought to be key factors why Jurgen Klopp was so keen to sign the 25-year-old – and the stats prove it.
Salah covered an average of 51m per game in counter-attacking dribbles for Roma
Salah covered an average of 51m per game in counter-attacking dribbles for Roma, compared to 26m per game for Liverpool’s own speedy attacker Sadio Mane and just 12m per match for Philippe Coutinho. The Egypt international’s speed with the ball at his feet means that Roma’s fast-tempo attacks dropped a whopping 63% when he wasn’t on the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, Salah’s running made up 38% of all the distance Roma covered in counter-attacking dribbles. Also, their average goals per game stood at 2.5 with him on the pitch, but dropped to just 1.0 when he was absent. Ouch.
See below for the full breakdown.
Follow @STATSInsightsUK for further in-depth data insights
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