Mohamed Salah out? Diaz, Jota, Nunez, Gakpo *all* better without Liverpool talisman | OneFootball

Luis Diaz scored and was named MOTM against Fulham.

Mohamed Salah is the best of Liverpool’s five forwards, but the other four have *all* been better while he’s been away at the Africa Cup of Nations. Luis Diaz was the latest star in a series of Liverpool forward shows, as the Reds booked their place in the Carabao Cup final.

By the 20-minute mark, save for the odd “come on Fulham, come on Fulham” when the players’ attempts to win the ball back appeared particularly futile, Liverpool had passed the home fans into silence. Luis Diaz’s goal, which went in via a double deflection and the palm of Bernd Leno, sucked the air out of the fans and the players they had cheered with gusto when Joao Palhinha volleyed over and Caoimhin Kelleher made a crucial intervention early on. Liverpool proceeded to suffocate their opponents with neat, progressive passing and aggressive pressing.

A two-goal Liverpool lead appeared at that point to have been deemed insurmountable by every Fulham stakeholder. It was a really odd atmosphere.

Fulham improved though. Andreas Pereira hit the post in the second half and they had other ‘nearly chances’ besides before Issa Diop kneed in Harry Wilson’s cross in the 76th minute to breifly put the willies up Liverpool. It looked like the Reds might be punished for failing to go up through the gears they appeared to have in reserve.

But they held on and that’s now four games without Mohamed Salah and three without Trent Alexander-Arnold, with neither goalscoring nor chance creation a problem worthy of mention in that time. In fact, you could argue the opposite.

Conor Bradley has slotted in well at right-back, and looked more comfortable against Willian and Antonee Robinson in the second leg than he did in the first, though he perhaps got sold a bit too easily by Wilson for the goal. And Jurgen Klopp’s raft of talented forwards have all come to the fore in the absence of their talisman.

Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo have scored nine of the 12 goals Liverpool have scored in the five games Salah’s played no part in this season, which includes the 3-1 win over Leicester in the third round of the Carabao Cup as well as the games he’s missed during the Africa Cup of Nations.

Excluding the Europa League, that quartet had managed just 19 goals in the 23 games in which they’ve played with the Egyptian. 1.8 goals per game without Salah; 0.83 goals per game with him. That’s a significant difference even after you account for three of them playing rather than two.

They all look better too. Jota’s two goals and assist against Bournemouth prompted Jamie Carragher to question whether Liverpool have ever had a better finisher in the Premier League era. Gakpo came on to score and turn the first leg of the semi-final on its head along with Nunez, who’s been at his barrelling best. Diaz did brilliantly to create the chance for himself on Wednesday, getting to the crossfield ball ahead of Timothy Castagne, earning the luck of his finish and the Man of the Match award for his football besides, which appears to be getting closer to the peak of his debut season at Anfield.

If Salah’s fit or long-term, with .

It’s also suggested – though we may require a bigger sample size – that Salah’s presence is to the detriment of his fellow forwards, all of whom look better off without him. Maybe they should accept the next £100m+ offer.