MOHAMED SALAH SCORED another brilliant individual goal and Roberto Firmino hit a hat-trick as Liverpool ruined Claudio Ranieri’s first match as Watford manager with a 5-0 victory.
Salah underlined why Liverpool are so desperate to get the Egypt forward to sign a new contract with his audacious second-half strike at Vicarage Road.
Dancing through the Watford defence, Salah’s magical moment topped even his eye-catching goal against Manchester City before the international break.
Liverpool’s habit of avoiding big contracts for players over 30 has fuelled fears the 29-year-old will leave when his present deal expires in 2023.
But with 10 goals in 10 games this season, Salah has proved his huge value to Liverpool, who will surely bow to his wish to be paid alongside the Premier League’s highest earners.
For the first time in his career, Salah has scored in eight successive top-flight matches.
Salah’s breathtaking goal stole the spotlight on a day when Firmino claimed his first Liverpool treble since 2018 in his first start for five league games.
It was also a memorable afternoon for Senegal forward Sadio Mane, who became only the third African player after Salah and Didier Drogba to reach a century of Premier League goals, a milestone encompassing his time at Southampton.
The Reds are the first English top-flight side to score three or more goals in seven consecutive away games in all competitions.
Liverpool, unbeaten in eight league matches this season, moved above Chelsea to the top of the table, although the Blues can reclaim pole position if they beat Brentford later on Saturday.
Ranieri could not have asked for a tougher start to his reign after he replaced the sacked Xisco Munoz during the international break.
The Italian, back in the Premier League after his title-winning spell with Leicester and stints at Chelsea and Fulham, will hope this dismal display was not a sign of things to come.
Having drawn their previous two league matches before the international break, Liverpool couldn’t afford another slip and they tore into Watford from the start.
Liverpool held over 80 percent of the possession in the first half, with Salah tormenting Danny Rose time and again down the right flank.
It was no surprise when Klopp’s team took the lead in the ninth minute.
Salah nudged Rose aside with ease and unfurled a glorious pass with the outside of his boot that evaded the entire Watford defence as it arrowed towards Mane, who applied the finishing touch with a first-time shot into the bottom corner.
It was almost too easy for Liverpool and Firmino was the next beneficiary of the visitors’ supremacy in the 37th minute.
A superb move cut through the Watford defence as Mane’s deft pass found James Milner’s overlapping run and his cross was perfectly weighted for Firmino to tap in his fourth goal this season.
A deflected drive from Liverpool’s Naby Keita hit the bar just before a half-time whistle that was greeted with boos from frustrated Watford fans.
Unable to muster a single shot in the first half, Watford’s backs remained against the wall and Salah’s curler was tipped away by Ben Foster.
Liverpool were showing no mercy and Firmino notched their third goal in the 52nd minute.
Salah was in an offside position when Andrew Robertson crossed, but Craig Cathcart’s sliding intervention deflected the ball to Firmino, who finished from close range.
If that was a no-frills strike, Salah’s 54th-minute goal will be remembered for years to come.
Collecting Firmino’s pass in the Watford area, Salah swivelled away from three defenders with an audacious ball-roll, then left Cathcart on his backside before guiding a superb finish into the far corner.
Firmino completed the demolition with a simple finish from Neco Williams’ cross in the final seconds.
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Great save by Kelleher near the end. Comfortable afternoon for him
Top player.
Super performance and result albeit against a woeful Watford. Unlikely to be a worse performance by any PL team this season. Salah is unbelievable and his goal was magical, give him the contract his performances and goals deserve. Great to see Firmino scoring. Though Kelleher had nothing to do he kept his concentration to make a very good save at the end. Gonna be a tight title race. Surprised Salah and Mane played the 90 minutes, Minamino could have done with game time especially against that Watford team.
Mo Salah is WOW!!! a pleasure to watch him…..Firmino not bad either : )
Time to sack Ranieri…….
@John S: dilly ding dilly dong
@Heckler davies: dilly ding, dilly gone
Class win and 3 more handy points. We will be hard to stop This season as we put last seasons blip behind us
Danny Rose will sleep tonight. Great performance against an albeit poor side!!
Give Mo all the money. Almost 0% chance of being able to replace him
Lewandowski and Salah are the best players in the world on current form.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a PL side as bad as that Watford side today….if they lost 10-0 it wouldn’t have been a surprise! Woeful…
@Ottomaaan: you forgot to mention that they were up against a solid side with a rampant front three, there, I fixed it for you…. :)
@Gordon Larney: no need to fix anything. That was the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a PL side, dreadful stuff and Liverpool could have put 10 past them.
@Ottomaaan: have to agree. I was at the game and never seen such a bad performance from a PL team.
Salah in great form. But how long canhe hold that form? He has 20-25 goals in him a season, but he’s up and down. If he held this form, he’d be close to 40 goals?
Bigger tests against Athletico and United on the way.
@Finn Faulkner: did you like your own comment…
@Finn Faulkner: how long can he do that. ? He has been doing it for the last 4 seasons. 104 goals in 166 games in the Premier league but you think he should score more. Okay so
@Finn Faulkner: you’re gonna need bigger bait on that hook ….
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: But by that metric 4 seasons at 40 goals would be 160 goals. He hasn t done that. But my point is that if he can keep that killer hat on his head for a prolonged period, and with our squad almost injury free, he could break records for us. I’m HOPING he keeps this lethal form indefinitely. He still can’t be put in the Messi/Ronaldo category until he starts being seriously clinical. I’d love to see him win the Balloon d’Or this year (or the next)
@len len: No, but seeing as you need likes, here, have mine. Have a lovely day.
@WESHALLNOTBEMOVED: you included his Chelsea stats there, it’s 102 in 153 for Liverpool
@Shane Roche: It’s still an amazing number of goals per season, but I think he can go even further, he needs to keep this current form. Biggest tests are against Athletico and then United.
That salah. Goal was pure roy of the rovers.. Pure art.. He must be a great dancer..
As good as Liverpool are, and they are really good. This in my opinion is all about Klopp.