Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou had rather contrasting views on the merits of assists this week
Ange Postecoglou earned chuckles in midweek as he dismissed assists as ‘the most useless statistic in football’ during a recent press conference. The Tottenham Hotspur head coach was being quizzed about the exploits of striker Dane Scarlett after the 20-year-old came off the bench to set up Dejan Kulusevski during Spurs’ 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town last weekend.
“I've got to say the assist is the most useless statistic in world football,” he told reporters, much to their amusement. “Seriously, it could come off your backside, fall to somebody on the halfway line.
“He scores and it's an assist. So it doesn't impress me, but Dane's assist at the weekend was a good one.”
Admittedly, the Australian might have a point - but only in that very specific scenario he described.
Case and point, Luis Suarez’s iconic assist against Manchester United for Dirk Kuyt for the Liverpool forward’s first goal when scoring a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory back in March 2011.
Postecoglou is entitled to his views, certainly. But one man who will definitely disagree with him is Mohamed Salah.
The Reds’ forward saw an eight-game scoring run come to an end in midweek in Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Newcastle United. But that did not stop him from making an impact in the final third as he assisted Alexis Mac Allister for his side’s second goal.
Winning back possession just inside his own half, Mac Allister embarked on a surging run forward before playing the ball to Salah on the edge of the box. The Egyptian would then bamboozle both Lewis Hall and Dan Burn as he turned one way and then the other in the box, before deceptively cutting back inside and flicking it to the Argentine for an emphatic first-time finish.
Like Scarlett’s assist against Ipswich, it ‘was a good one’. But that is hardly a surprise. You will struggle to find any unaware backside set-ups in the forward’s eye-catching catalogue.
Salah now has 30 goals and 22 assists for the season from just 39 appearances as his astonishing campaign continues.
Meanwhile, he has scored 25 times in the Premier League and set up 17 goals from 28 league appearances, to comfortably lead both the Golden Boot and Playmaker award charts.
The 32-year-old has scored five more times than reigning Golden Boot winner Erling Haaland, who trails in second-place, while he has an eye-catching seven assists more than Bukayo Saka, Mikkel Damsgaard and Antonee Robinson.
Salah has always wowed with his devastatingly consistent goalscoring returns, with his most recent goal against Man City last weekend his 241st for Liverpool to incredibly move him third in the club’s all-time scoring charts alongside Gordon Hodgson.
But he is climbing up the assists charts at an eye-catching rate of knots too. According to LFC History’s annals, starting from the 1945/46 season, the Egyptian is now sixth in the rankings behind Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard, Billy Liddell, Ian Callaghan and Alan A’Court.
And having broken Steve McManaman’s record for most Premier League assists for the Reds in a season (15) against Man City last weekend, Salah is now quickly closing in on Dalglish’s record in all competitions of 24 from 1980/81 and 1984/85.
It has long been joked that Liverpool’s Egyptian King must have broken the record for records broken during his time at Anfield, and plenty more will certainly fall in the remaining months of the campaign.
He needs to record only four assists from the final 10 Premier League matches of the season to break Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne’s shared record of 20. While slightly more unrealistic, 11 goals would also see him reclaim his record for most goals in a Premier League season alongside Haaland.
Salah is also likely to win his fourth Golden Boot this season, which would see him move level with Alan Shearer as the players to have won it the most times. Clean up at the end of season awards, and the 32-year-old could also end up becoming the player to have won both PFA Player’s Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year awards more times than anyone else.
Admittedly, such individual honours are a footnote for the forward, with the Egyptian much more interested in getting his hands on a second Premier League and Champions League title.
But assists do mean something to him, as he explained to TNT Sports ahead of facing Newcastle. His improved creativity is why he believes he is currently enjoying his best ever season - even more so than his astonishing 44-goal campaign in his first year at Liverpool.
“I think this is my best season because I make the players around me better as well, that is what I feel,” he said. “I know their games. If you look at all the numbers around all the players, it is going to be higher than the other seasons.
“Plus my assists are higher, so that means I really help them a lot. Cody, Lucho, other players, their season is the best - so, I think this is my best season because I make the players around me also better.”
It is partly because of Salah’s record-breaking returns this season that Liverpool are enjoying such a remarkable campaign. But not reliant on the Egyptian’s goals alone, his assists are evidently also making a crucial difference as the Reds close in on an increasingly-likely Premier League title win.
It goes without saying that Salah could not disagree more with Postecoglou's claim, with Arne Slot and all those of a Liverpool persuasion instead most-impressed by the Egyptian's returns this season.
But perhaps assists aren't as important when you're 13th in the Premier League table. Shame it’s just a useless statistic, aye?