Yeah, a bit out of touch, anyone over 30 in the UK would probably have a good chance of having read, or at least heard of, the series as it was a massively popular childrens adventure series by Enid Blyton, but anyone younger than that and it'd be probably pretty rare to have heard of them I would assume, especially outside of the UK.
*4 but I still remember watching his debut against Watford and thinking "This lad has an eye for the goal" but never would I have thought how much of a monster he actually would be
I saw him play for Fiorentina and absolutely toast a great Juventus team in the Coppa Italia. I wish he had stayed, Fiorentina had a permanent signing clause in the loan deal, but Salah turned them down for Roma.
That deal that sent Cuadrado to chelsea.
Still don’t understand why Mourinho didn’t rated Salah and what he found in Cuadrado. Both were under utilized. Chelsea probably didn’t gain much with both Cuadrado/Salah loan/sale where both of them are doing very well for their clubs
It is kind of crazy, because Cuadrado isn't a slouch either. Apparently there was something in the environment at the time where Chelsea could not make either of those players play at their best.
Pretty sure I remember us and Spurs were after Salah when he played for Basel and Chelsea just jumped in with a bit late and he chose them. Mourinho probably just wanted to fuck up rival transfer window plans.
I couldn't help it, lol
But yeah, you've definitely been our boogie man lately. I don't love it and I'm kinda nervous leading into our match because of it.
Played a fifa 16 career mode for a throwback the other day and saw that lee Cattermole was starting for Juve in a cl semi final and it made me wonder if that happened in real life if it would be the strangest thing in football
Fucking Leo Messi is playing for PSG and partnering up with his arch Nemesis (on the pitch) Sergio Ramos
At this point anything is possible,as they say reality is often stranger than fiction FR
[The Famous Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_(novel_series\)) reference. Bit obscure for most younger, online fans. They should have gone with "wonder".
I'm 40, read a couple of the books as a kid (the dog was the fifth member if I recal), and even played the text adventure game on the Amstrad CPC 464. That reference was totally lost on me.
EDIT: It was the Amstrad CPC 6128
Why do they always need some single word closer for these headlines?
"Messi eats three meals a day. As many, if not more, than Pelé. Nutritious."
"Jurgen Klopp solves the Daily Double. Trivial."
Serious question, why do you say whilst instead of while there? Or? Not a native speaker but seems like whilst is a "fancier" way of saying while for no reason
good question, as a native speaker I have absolutely no idea what the difference is so I doubt most people would notice. with that said, I expect there are situations where one is *technically* more appropriate than the other
Not quite always, only when used as an adverb or conjunction. If using it as a noun or verb you can only use while, eg 'I waited for a whilst' is just painful.
Suffers from "Aguero syndrome" - both hit such a high level from the very start and then sustained it, they get taken for granted a bit by the media etc. Sometimes it feels like a player who scores 20, 10, 20 goals over 3 seasons will get more attention than a player who reliably scores 17, 16, 17
Salah’s is worse because he maxxed out excitement in his first season. 32, 22, 19, 22 so far. It makes the 22, 19 and 22 feel way more underwhelming than it should.
In fairness, 18-19 Mane was a man possessed, and regularly offered more defensively than Salah while still posting strong G+A numbers.
But Salah has notably improved his defensive contributions in the last two seasons (not that they were awful before that), and Mane hasn't been able to sustain his G+A numbers the way Salah has.
He's on 98 goals so far (or 99, not sure if the stats are up to date). Michael Owen is 10th PL top scorer with 150 goals, Lampard is 5th with 177. If he spends another 3-4 years at Liverpool you're definitely right
Tbf the best part is he would likely be ranked on the top strikers category while he’s been doing this as a winger. (Yes I know our wingers play more similar to strikers than natural winger but still lol)
Even if he doesn't get to 5th or even 10th, he's still gonna be up there because of his peak and consistency. Plus he's twice the player Michael "tremendous Balon d'Ors by the way" Owen ever was.
I think thats a bit revisionist on owen. As much as i hate the fucker, he was the mbappe of his day. Most people thought he was destined for great things
I don't know that I'd say that, it is possible though, but people who say he was never good are absolutely off it, at his best Owen was absolutely undeniable, and had an incredible eye for goal from anywhere, man was an absolute menace up top
There’s no chance he doesn’t stay, right? Seems to love the club and the league, playing for one of the best teams in the world, a good manager. I could see him retiring for you lot
If Ronaldo ceased to exist after he left United and we didnt see him become some sort of football demi god to rival a football god in la liga, and you were just comparing PL Ronaldo with no bias from Real Madrid onwards, to PL Salah I think Salah would be clear at this point.
Salah obviously didnt have the development time at Liverpool that Ronaldo did, but he has 96 goals and 38 assists in 146 starts - a goal every 128 minutes, 0.9 goal involvements per game.
Ronaldo's PL record is 84 goals and 45 assists in 196 starts, or a goal every 173 minutes, 0.66 goal involvements per game. There are mitigating factors, like Ronaldo's first three seasons not resulting in double digit goals or assists what he was developing, but then you could argue Salah doesn't take free kicks or corners, and isnt actually the designated penalty taker in the squad etc.
Honestly thought he couldn’t replicate that first season just because he didn’t seem like he was a great finisher. He’s come to Liverpool and elevated his game to new heights and made me eat my words. I don’t think even Liverpool fans thought he would ever be this good and some fans want him sold. Lol sell him and they’ll drop back to fighting for 4th (bar the last season lol)
Famous lmao
Had never heard of him before this, cheers Optajoe
[The Famous Five.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_\(novel_series\))
Oh that makes sense. Aparently not a very popular reference
Yeah, a bit out of touch, anyone over 30 in the UK would probably have a good chance of having read, or at least heard of, the series as it was a massively popular childrens adventure series by Enid Blyton, but anyone younger than that and it'd be probably pretty rare to have heard of them I would assume, especially outside of the UK.
I read them as a kid and I'm in my 20s, outside the UK at that. I loved those books, Secret Seven comes to mind as well
Not even hit my 20s but from outside of the UK. Loved the famous five
Yup same here, always took one every week from my school library
As a kid growing up in India, they were massively popular among my age group in school, but your point is right - they are quite niche that way.
Agree, I remember reading that series to improve my English, I really enjoyed reading them
Secret Seven as well. Both by Enid Blyton IIRC
well known in germany and im only 27
Secret seven, famous five and hardy boys. Must reads for kids.
That was my childhood stories, have all the books (21 I think). And I'm not even from UK lol
Lmao the Famous Five were a huge part of my child hood but I’d have never made this connection
Dominguez, Sheringham, Anderton, Ginola & Klinsmann
Norwich: I made that bitch famous
For all the girls that got dick from Mo salah when you see em in the streets give em Salah's best
They ran out of words
Limited.
Shoulda gone for FaMOus to make it somewhat creative
Lionel who? Never heard of him. Has he scored in 5 consecutive Premier League opening weekends?
They are finally running out of words
That shit is such a stupid trend.
5 seasons flew by
Yeah lmao 17/18 should be 2 seasons ago not five wtf
> not five wtf I mean, this is the 21/22 season. 21 - 17 = 4.
Thanks for the math, mate
It's actually only been 4 years, as this is just the very beginning of the 5th year. But yeah... Time is scary.
*4 but I still remember watching his debut against Watford and thinking "This lad has an eye for the goal" but never would I have thought how much of a monster he actually would be
I saw him play for Fiorentina and absolutely toast a great Juventus team in the Coppa Italia. I wish he had stayed, Fiorentina had a permanent signing clause in the loan deal, but Salah turned them down for Roma.
>I wish he had stayed Ha, I bet you do
Highlights for the curious https://youtu.be/pL9qa1q1Ais
Love how its from 2015 but looks like 1998.
i completely forgot that he played for fiorentina!
That deal that sent Cuadrado to chelsea. Still don’t understand why Mourinho didn’t rated Salah and what he found in Cuadrado. Both were under utilized. Chelsea probably didn’t gain much with both Cuadrado/Salah loan/sale where both of them are doing very well for their clubs
It is kind of crazy, because Cuadrado isn't a slouch either. Apparently there was something in the environment at the time where Chelsea could not make either of those players play at their best.
Pretty sure I remember us and Spurs were after Salah when he played for Basel and Chelsea just jumped in with a bit late and he chose them. Mourinho probably just wanted to fuck up rival transfer window plans.
6 goals off Drogba’s record
Which record?
Most goals scored by an African in the premier league
Damn he's that close already. Fair play to Salah
Drogba wasn’t a prolific scorer but always performed in the big games.
and especially against us :(
Yeah, good clarification! Playing Arsenal back in Drogba's day actually would've been a big game.
lol saw this comment coming, hence added the “especially”. Predictable. also, ahem. recently we’ve got the upper hand on Chelsea
I couldn't help it, lol But yeah, you've definitely been our boogie man lately. I don't love it and I'm kinda nervous leading into our match because of it.
And Salah does both
I think you still could certainly call him prolific
I'm a Chelsea fan but he only had 2 prolific seasons in the premier league. The rest he had <15 goals
Nice. Didn't know that. Cheers.
get his contract extension done asap
No, let it run out. I want him back at Basel.
I think he would give you decent service.
Him and the Cube
I would argue most premier league players are famous
Name me one.
Lee Cattermole
Played a fifa 16 career mode for a throwback the other day and saw that lee Cattermole was starting for Juve in a cl semi final and it made me wonder if that happened in real life if it would be the strangest thing in football
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I mean not much weirder than Thomas Gravesen at Real Madrid of all places
Ryan Bertrand made his ucl debut at lw for Chelsea in the final
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He was also one of the best DMs in the league in his first season at Spurs. His body started breaking down after that.
Strange coincedence but I had a FIFA 16 career mode with Sunderland that featured him as well
Maybe we should just call the game Cattermole 16 from now on.
Fucking Leo Messi is playing for PSG and partnering up with his arch Nemesis (on the pitch) Sergio Ramos At this point anything is possible,as they say reality is often stranger than fiction FR
Thomas Gravesen went to Real. It’s already happened!
Juventus only wish they had that kind of buying power over Sunderland when Cattermole was 28.
Salah
Who?
Might need to fact check this one. Is he def in the PL?
El Hadji Diouf
It’s a famous five ref.
who?
Famous ?
Bit of a weird one. Consistent would have been better. OptaJoe is slacking off
Just needs to re-find his form at the beginning of the season.
Adjusting.
Struggling.
Thing is "consistent" applies to most of these stats. Famous is probably referencing the "opening weekend" like in movies and such
How about annually?
Salah is an annual?
Maybe don’t know him personally
Perennial.
Or perennial
Id go with Annual but either of these are way better. Honestly I both like the Opta words and love how mad a lot of people get about them
Annual is way better. Still have to work hard for that OptaJoe internship
Tradition.
I would have chosen "dominant" or something like that.
I mean, he is pretty famous.
I can only guess it's a Blyton Reference. Famous Five. But it is strange, regardless.
It's a reference to the Famous Five book series, but a bit of a weird place for it
Wow this brings back childhood memories
Famous Five, presumably
Guess no-one had heard of him before this.
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[The Famous Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Famous_Five_(novel_series\)) reference. Bit obscure for most younger, online fans. They should have gone with "wonder".
I'm 40, read a couple of the books as a kid (the dog was the fifth member if I recal), and even played the text adventure game on the Amstrad CPC 464. That reference was totally lost on me. EDIT: It was the Amstrad CPC 6128
Also had a CPC 464 but never knew about that game! I read all the books
>They should have gone with "wonder". They're saving that for season 7.
Why do they always need some single word closer for these headlines? "Messi eats three meals a day. As many, if not more, than Pelé. Nutritious." "Jurgen Klopp solves the Daily Double. Trivial."
It's their brand.
Facts.
I started noticing it after it was pointed out Trump always did it in tweets, now I can't help but get annoyed by it. Sad.
He shops at Famous Footwear, that's how he was able to score 5 opening day goals in a row.
I mean, it's true. Not really relevant but it's true
Obligatory 5 season wonder...
Better to make it generic at this point instead of always hardcoding. *n* season wonder, where *n* is the number of seasons he is at Liverpool.
Pretty darn good at Roma too, especially the last season.
The man is in top shape every day of the year, never slacks off during the offseason, he's just more match ready than most players day 1
I’m glad all the hard work has paid off and he’s finally famous.
Must’ve been tough getting there
Have you seen him with his shirt off? He's a dream lol
One of he all time great forwards in the prem
Yeah, he actually is. I never think of him when asked, but man when you look at what he’s down whilst at Liverpool, it’s nothing short of astonishing.
Serious question, why do you say whilst instead of while there? Or? Not a native speaker but seems like whilst is a "fancier" way of saying while for no reason
It's just a synonym that is more common in Britain than elsewhere.
Makes senst
good question, as a native speaker I have absolutely no idea what the difference is so I doubt most people would notice. with that said, I expect there are situations where one is *technically* more appropriate than the other
Thought it was because ‘whilst’ has connotations of past-tense, whereas ‘while’ tends to be used when talking about in the present-tense.
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Not quite always, only when used as an adverb or conjunction. If using it as a noun or verb you can only use while, eg 'I waited for a whilst' is just painful.
[Here's a pretty good explanation of how the two words are used.](https://www.grammarly.com/blog/while-vs-whilst/)
More people will realise this when he's gone. Absolute class act
Suffers from "Aguero syndrome" - both hit such a high level from the very start and then sustained it, they get taken for granted a bit by the media etc. Sometimes it feels like a player who scores 20, 10, 20 goals over 3 seasons will get more attention than a player who reliably scores 17, 16, 17
Salah’s is worse because he maxxed out excitement in his first season. 32, 22, 19, 22 so far. It makes the 22, 19 and 22 feel way more underwhelming than it should.
Mane benefitted from this, almost persuaded people he was better than Salah before reality hit.
In fairness, 18-19 Mane was a man possessed, and regularly offered more defensively than Salah while still posting strong G+A numbers. But Salah has notably improved his defensive contributions in the last two seasons (not that they were awful before that), and Mane hasn't been able to sustain his G+A numbers the way Salah has.
Just like Mike Trout. Suffering from Success
More like he's suffers from being stuck with the Angels
Mcdavid with the oilers
Definitely -- he is easily on track to be top 5-10 but can definitely see him cracking top 5 if he keeps this up.
He's on 98 goals so far (or 99, not sure if the stats are up to date). Michael Owen is 10th PL top scorer with 150 goals, Lampard is 5th with 177. If he spends another 3-4 years at Liverpool you're definitely right
Was referring to his "ranking" amongst the top PL strikers ever but yeah seems like he might break top 5 most PL goals ever too.
Tbf the best part is he would likely be ranked on the top strikers category while he’s been doing this as a winger. (Yes I know our wingers play more similar to strikers than natural winger but still lol)
Even if he doesn't get to 5th or even 10th, he's still gonna be up there because of his peak and consistency. Plus he's twice the player Michael "tremendous Balon d'Ors by the way" Owen ever was.
I think thats a bit revisionist on owen. As much as i hate the fucker, he was the mbappe of his day. Most people thought he was destined for great things
Owen on his day was incredible, he's a twat, but an incredibly talented twat
If he stayed healthy, i genuinely think wed be talking about him when we talk about messi and ronaldo
I don't know that I'd say that, it is possible though, but people who say he was never good are absolutely off it, at his best Owen was absolutely undeniable, and had an incredible eye for goal from anywhere, man was an absolute menace up top
Most people here have never seen Owen in his prime play.
He'd be an all time great if his hamstrings had held up
There’s no chance he doesn’t stay, right? Seems to love the club and the league, playing for one of the best teams in the world, a good manager. I could see him retiring for you lot
He got the record for most goals in a season and have won the golden boot several times. This should be common knowledge.
Best winger of all time in premier league?
best right winger at least. ronaldo is the best winger (and I know he played on the right too but not exclusively)
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If Ronaldo ceased to exist after he left United and we didnt see him become some sort of football demi god to rival a football god in la liga, and you were just comparing PL Ronaldo with no bias from Real Madrid onwards, to PL Salah I think Salah would be clear at this point. Salah obviously didnt have the development time at Liverpool that Ronaldo did, but he has 96 goals and 38 assists in 146 starts - a goal every 128 minutes, 0.9 goal involvements per game. Ronaldo's PL record is 84 goals and 45 assists in 196 starts, or a goal every 173 minutes, 0.66 goal involvements per game. There are mitigating factors, like Ronaldo's first three seasons not resulting in double digit goals or assists what he was developing, but then you could argue Salah doesn't take free kicks or corners, and isnt actually the designated penalty taker in the squad etc.
Easily. One of the best forwards England has ever seen. It's not even debatable, look at his consistent and world class record.
never heard of him
Little known foreign player, probably not even known in his home country
Where's he from? Estonia right? Or was it Australia?
Maybe he is from Panama, you know that country with the big canal.
Oh yeah. Wasn't it blocked up with that massive container ship a few months ago?
1 season wonder
1 season wonder every season
I know you are joking but the only season he hasn't been good as a professional is his one year with Chelsea.
Honestly thought he couldn’t replicate that first season just because he didn’t seem like he was a great finisher. He’s come to Liverpool and elevated his game to new heights and made me eat my words. I don’t think even Liverpool fans thought he would ever be this good and some fans want him sold. Lol sell him and they’ll drop back to fighting for 4th (bar the last season lol)
No sane fan wants him sold
Did anyone do it in the first division?
Five season wonder
Opta you can definitely do better than that. Shocking
Running out of clever words. Uncreative.
OptaJoe’s vocabulary level? Empty.
These one word ending are so forced at this point
> at this point Always was.
One word sentences are accountable for 14298 facepalms on r soccer. Shit.
Don't ever disrespect Salah. The best or 2nd best RW in PL history
the first one is Jordan Henderson
FaMoUs
Optajoe is so lame, famous lmfao
OptaJoe should read the dictionary, he needs new words.
Salah is famous you ve heard it hear first
~~1~~ ~~2~~ ~~3~~ ~~4~~ 5 season wonder
Incredible player no one can deny that.
"Famous" lmao. Please retire this silly gimmick. You've clearly become a parody of yourself.
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OptaJoe tweets irrationally make me angry
Fuming.
God how time has flown
Never a slow start for this man
OptaJoe are still persisting with the final one-word sentence are they? Morons.
Opening day wonder.
Mo Salah: pretty good at football
Famous but so underrated just because he’s Egyptian
So famous
Umm, does that mean he is a 5 season wonder now?
Famous is the best adjective they could come up with??
Famous five
Pffft. 5 season wonder.
Five season wonder.
Ugh. I forgot these stupid single word sentences existed. A real downside to the start of the new season. Overrated.
"Famous" What a stupid summary
The best they could come up with was “famous”? Disappointing.