29 Sep 2021 12:55:57
Okay, after the Jones vs. Foden debate, I propose we go for a Suarez vs. Salah one? Who was better? And the timeline for judging is the 3-4 years both were/ have been, with the club. And I also propose we leave the biting, racism and other histrionics out of it. Just base it on pure football.

My vote goes to Mohammed Salah. He's far better in consistency, scores far more decisive goals and my feel is that he's a better team player (many will disagree with me with the calls about his greediness) . But I will also admit that Salah has a better supporting cast than Suarez ever had. In fact, I personally rate Salah higher than both Suarez and Fernando Torres. Salah is not the most prolific goalscorer (fastest ever to 100 goals) in the entire history of the club, for nothing.

{Ed001's Note - surely there is no contest? Salah is light years ahead.}

29 Sep 2021 13:12:12
I think there is a contest but salah wins it for me. He has had a title winning squad around him. Suarez even had an inferior (and young/ arrogant) manager. I like Brendan for the record but he’s come a long way and is at a good club for him. I think it’s easier to write off Suarez because of all the poison that came with him, but if we are going on a strictly player basis, he was also pretty special. Suarez had a high work rate and let’s not forget how many assists he tallied. The saddest part of looking back is actually sturridge. Guy was unplayable when fit but just couldn’t sort it out.

{Ed001's Note - sorry but Suarez is possibly the most overrated Liverpool player of all time because he was exciting to watch. You can't ignore the bile and scumminess of his personality because it carried over on to the pitch and he missed far too much football because of his moronic acts. Not even close to being in the same bracket as Salah. Salah has been a class act on and off the pitch, scores goals at a quicker rate, gets loads of assists and yet he is not even the central striker like Suarez was. Not even close. Salah is part of a title winning squad because he makes the team better, Suarez wasn't because he drags a team down with his antics.}

29 Sep 2021 13:20:51
You would think so, Ed001, but in recent times I've read comments on here about "sell him off now" as a response to getting maximum financial value for him, or perceived salary demands or whatever else. Who else is out there that will give you the same production, at a lower purchase price or same / lower wages? I'll agree that he will leave one day, but you get this sense that he is vastly under appreciated, while here.

29 Sep 2021 13:39:28
Salah. Any other answer is wrong. The end.

29 Sep 2021 13:45:35
You are a little bit biased Ed, as you have said numerous times, that you don't have much time for Suarez. If Suarez had Trent and Robbo firing balls into the box, I think his goal tally would have been phenominal.

{Ed001's Note - except he wasn't that good in the air, not at the same level as either Mane or Salah as an aerial threat. Of course I am biased, because Salah is a much better player. Suarez was nowhere near as good as Salah. The only thing he had over Salah is close control in tight areas and even that is arguable when you look at some of the goals Salah has scored.}

29 Sep 2021 13:47:37
You must be very tired Oh Mané, if that's the best you can do.

29 Sep 2021 14:36:59
No debate about it, it's Salah all the way.

29 Sep 2021 14:50:06
Salah for me.
I probably think it’s a little closer than you do ed001 but yeah Salah is much better than the scumbag ever was.
The scumbag was a bloody good player on his day though it has to be said, but he could and should have been much better, his antics were a massive detriment to the team. Salah and his attitude raises the level of those around him.

{Ed001's Note - also how long was he a good player for us? He didn't exactly set the heather alight in his first few months. Salah walked in and became our best player immediately and still is the best player in the team.}

29 Sep 2021 15:08:16
I hear what you’re saying ed001 and my preference is absolutely Salah. But Suarez was great (on the pitch) if you exclude the drama. And I think he was at least decent in the air. I remember his header from outside the box to the top bin. No doubt we upgraded though when we got Salah.

{Ed001's Note - he wasn't great all the time, has everyone forgotten how disappointed they were with him initially? He had a purple patch after that, but initially he was not good at all.}}

29 Sep 2021 15:08:43
Ed, while Salah has clearly been a better player for Liverpool than Suarez, I’m not sure anyone can say the reason Suarez wasn’t in a title-winning team is because he ‘drags a team down with his antics’. While his 5-game ban at the start of 13/ 14 may have cost us the extra point or so we needed to win the league (we got 10 points from 5 games without him), he was the main reason we even got close. As subsequently proved, without him (amongst other reasons) that team was nowhere NEAR a title challenging side. He has 7 career league titles to his name regardless, and may well reach 500 career goals by the time he retires - he’s an all-time great, not overrated.
That said, in any metric anyone could possibly throw at the question Salah is better. Salah is as close to being the bridge between a prime Messi/ Ronaldo and everyone else as is possible to be.

{Ed001's Note - I would say the loss of Sturridge to injury was more of the difference than Suarez. He has most of those titles alongside Messi, that is not about him. He may well be a great player, but he is not a Liverpool all-time great, that is a totally different thing. He is overrated in a Liverpool shirt. I don't give a toss what he did elsewhere, this is about what he did in a Liverpool shirt so stop bringing other stuff into it and stick to the point.}

29 Sep 2021 15:26:25
Losing Sturridge to injury still hurts to this day lol. Could’ve been so good….

29 Sep 2021 15:36:33
Oh never mind.

29 Sep 2021 15:41:40
Suarez was the best player in the league the yer we came 2nd by a country mile. He won every individual honour going that season. In the premiership era only 4 Liverpool players have won the PFA player of the year and he's one of them. If that's overrated then i dunno a **** anymore.

29 Sep 2021 16:15:55
Suarez was a very good player in an above average team. Salah stands out in a fantastic team. There’s too many negatives to Suarez to make him a Liverpool great. We’ve known for a long time that Salah would like a move to one of the Spanish giants but he’s always acted professionally. I really hope he stays with us and passes that horrible individual Owen’s goal tally.

29 Sep 2021 16:10:32
Totally agree with ed1, Salah all the way. Losing Sturridge to injury was devastating to our team, what a player Sturridge was i would probably say just as talented if not more than Suarez.

29 Sep 2021 16:23:01
I think the answer to this will be individual preference based and everyone will Have their opinion. For me regardless of which side of the fence the opinion falls on both were or currently are world class whilst playing for us.

And on the scale of things over the last 30 years we haven’t had that many world class players playing for us on the grand scheme of things. Imagine Salah in the Rogers team or the LFC prime Suarez in this current team.

Suarez had the moral compass of an alley cat for us but there’s no denying he did the business on the pitch.

If it’s a straight shoot out between the two for me it’s Salah. The guy seems to play with a smile on his face and it seems to bring success. Where as Suarez played with a win at any cost regardless of who was in the firing line mentality which in turn brought the huge amount of baggage with him.

After a few years with Suarez we were literally glad to get rid of him. Where as we are desperate to keep Mo.

29 Sep 2021 16:40:36
On a side note, I don't get the comment abut Salah being the bridge between CR and Messi and the rest. On current form over the last 2 or 3 years, surely Salah has to be considered as part of the CR/ Messi group, if not actually the best in the world right now. Whilst CR and Messi are certainly incredible, they are by no means as good as they were a few years ago.

29 Sep 2021 16:52:02
Stuie, I think Lowe was saying Salah is the bridge between a PRIME Messi/ Ronaldo and everyone else.

If we look at players in the last 10 years, I would put Ronaldo above Messi as he 'did it' in different teams - Utd, Madrid and then Juve (to an extent, but he was on the wane by then) . Right now, Messi is ahead of Mo as Messi has been doing it for many more years, Mo has only been in that company during his time with us, not Roma or Chelsea, so maybe 5 years?

I'd certainly put Mo in the conversation, and he is better now than Messi or Ronaldo, from what I have seen, but he is several years younger.

If he does it for us (hopefully) or someone else (hopefully not! ) for several more years, then he's up there with them, imo.

Lowe, I get what you're trying to say, and I think JK sums it up well in his subsequent post. Suarez, for all of his 'alley cat' attitude and his fortune to have played with Messi and others in that Barcelona team, is up there with the best in the world, in my opinion. BUT, Salah is knocking on the door of that Messi/ Ronaldo group, whereas Suarez is not.

So Salah by a fair stretch, for me, is the better.

29 Sep 2021 18:33:43
Salah by a country mile. Consistent, reliable, no behaviour issues, also has medals to back up his goals. As a player he’s quicker and less of a liability as he’s not prone to moments of madness.

29 Sep 2021 19:26:19
Zed, that wasn't aimed directly at his comment, just in general people keep saying messi/ Ronaldo and then Salah. But how long do we put them two on the pedestal as the best in the world? Salah is currently better than them in my option based on the last 2 years but not better than them in their primes, but if we go by that, Best and Pele would still be being considered!

29 Sep 2021 19:50:23
Yeah, that's a good point Stuie. I guess its testament to how Ronaldo and Messi have captured the imagination of football fans for so long that, even whilst they are in their 'footballing dotage' they are still so feted.

Maybe the same was true with Pele? He was before my time so I'm not sure.

I think minds will change as they retire, and then there will be players like Salah, Mbappe, Lewandowski (albeit he's not that much younger that Messi and Ronaldo) and then the next gen.

29 Sep 2021 20:06:41
Begins with an S and ends in a H, and doesn't bite Italians.

29 Sep 2021 21:14:07
Not tired at all mate. I could write a thousand words and still come to the conclusion Salah is the better player by far.

29 Sep 2021 22:20:07
I think statistically speaking, our record w just Sturridge in the team was better than when just Suarez was in the team ie when Sturridge was injured and Suarez banned. When Suarez left, remember we beat Spurts away handily in the league. Then Studge went away w England, got injured and spent the rest of the season out. i would argue that had he stayed fit, we would have been just fine that season.

29 Sep 2021 22:22:47
Id rate Salah as better than Suarez but i reckon Suarez shades Salah in close ball control mainly because he was more 2 footed than Salah and thus harder for defenders to predict in tight areas.

30 Sep 2021 09:20:04
For me, this is nowhere near a debate. Salah wins it by a country mile. Suarez was a very good player for us. Even great BUT sorry, he only had one exceptional season for us whereas Salah has been doing it consistently for 5 years, period. Even better for Salah, he dwarfed Suarez's exceptional season in his very first season a s a red so how is Suarez better than him in any way? Exactly.

Suarez could have produced as much if not more that Salah had he not spent his time being suspended for going on a biting spree, racially abusing players, and embarrassing the club at will. Just saying. People talk about Suarez having better ability and all that than Salah. Sorry, I don't give two flips about who has better ability cos that does not equally translate to the great production on the pitch, IMO.

Tom Brady was deemed to have very little ability hence, the QB's with so called better ability were taken over him. What's Brady's production/ record on the field? The record speaks for itself. The question is the production on the pitch, NOT on who has better ability and on that, the difference is clear. Salah is miles ahead of Suarez.

30 Sep 2021 10:22:00
Cool, Oh Mané. I was just wondering since usually you're far more expressive. But thanks for not writing the thousand words. On second thought, what you wrote is perfect. Better on the eyes, LOL.

30 Sep 2021 20:17:23
Anyone who doesn’t say Suarez hasn’t been paying attention. 3rd best player in the world behind Messi and Ronaldo when he was with us. Salah fantastic but would love to see how many he would have scored playing in the same team as Skertel, Enrique, Flanagan, Shelvey, Adam, Joe Allan, Andy Carroll and Downing. Incidentally, Salah has never won a Balon d’Or, unlike Michael Owen, which those with short memories easily forget.