BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks crucified Mohamed Salah for his “grotesque” diving for Liverpool against Crystal Palace and claimed his antics are “breaking my heart”.
Salah has come under fire in recent winnings for going down too easily in the penalty box, and critics have claimed he has been winning penalties that he shouldn’t have.
Palace’s defenders were fuming when the Egyptian forward threw himself to the ground in the first half of Saturday’s 4-3 win at Anfield after little in the way of contact.
“Salah is breaking my heart. Why would such a wonderful player do something so grotesque?” Crooks wrote, as he named the Egyptian in his BBC Sport team of the week.
“He went down in the penalty area as though he had been poleaxed. Crystal Palace skipper Luka Milivojevic told the Egypt international what he thought of the charade in no uncertain terms, and quite rightly. This was before the Liverpool striker sent the Eagles back to Selhurst Park having had their wings severely clipped.
“I was so disappointed in Salah but I still can’t bring myself to leave him out of my team of the week.”
OPINION
It is a measure of Salah’s brilliance that he has been heavily criticised by Crooks, but still named in the pundit’s team of the week. First, the bad. The Egyptian king is going down too easily, and will start to get a diving reputation that he will find difficult to overcome if he is not too careful. Salah did win a stonewall penalty against Brighton the previous weekend that he subsequently converted, but some spot-kicks he has won in the last month or two have been far less emphatic. From the outside, is Salah feeling the pressure of being the main man in Jurgen Klopp’s side as they look to end their three-decade title hurt? That is a real and growing possibility. His desire to win appears to be overriding everything else. On the flip side, the player’s talent and eagerness cannot be ignored. Salah was once again outstanding against Palace, with his first goal further proof of his technical excellence and ability to deliver the goods when most needed. He is the one attacker player Klopp cannot be without.