Micah Richards thinks he knows why Mohamed Salah struggled so much in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle.
Although he has enjoyed a sensational season, with his goals and assists tallies putting him in contention for this year’s Ballon d’Or, Salah has noticeably not been at his usual levels recently.
The Egyptian, like most of his teammates, failed to make an impact at Wembley as Liverpool was comfortably second-best to Newcastle in the 2-1 defeat, with goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak completing the Magpies’ first major trophy win in nearly 70 years. The final saw Salah fail to record a goal involvement for the third time in his last four games across all competitions.
His former Fiorentina teammate though has come up with a possible explanation for his recent struggles. Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Richards said: “Don’t forget Salah is in Ramadan now as well where he’s fasting.
“It’s only normal that he’s not going to have the same energy levels as when he can eat. For him to be actually on that pitch playing at that level is absolutely outstanding just to be there you know.”
Ramadan is the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, during which many Muslims will not eat or drink during daylight hours. They break their fast once the sun has set, with the period lasting from February 28 to March 30.
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With the sun not setting in London until after 6 p.m. local time, the final was already approaching its closing stages by the time Salah could break his fast. Ramadan will have come to an end by the time the 32-year-old next turns out for Liverpool against Everton on April 2.
Without Salah at his best, Liverpool struggled to make any sort of impact at Wembley, with Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz in particular struggling once again. It wasn’t until Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott were introduced that the Reds carried some genuine threat to Newcastle, with the former scoring in stoppage time to give his side some late hope of a comeback.
“I think this team is so reliant on Mo Salah,” Richards continued. “Expecting a worldie from him, a penalty, a free-kick, whatever it may be.
“I just thought from Liverpool’s point of view the performance was a bit flat. Maybe it was psychologically from the PSG result.”
