ESPN pundit slams Liverpool star Mohamed Salah for ‘awful’ penalty miss

By Milo Clay

ESPN pundit Steve Nicol has slammed Liverpool star Mohamed Salah for his missed penalty against Bournemouth yesterday. 

Liverpool fell to a 1-0 defeat on Saturday after Philip Billing’s first-half effort proved to be the difference between the sides. 

Jurgen Klopp will be disappointed with his side’s display after such a promising run of form up until yesterday. 

The Reds hadn’t tasted defeat in the Premier League since the beginning of February and were coming off a stunning 7-0 win over Manchester United. 

Liverpool did get off to a good start at the Vitality Stadium and even had an opportunity to level the scoring from the penalty spot in the 69th minute. 

But Salah dragged his effort well wide of Neto’s goal as he aimed for the top left-hand corner. And Nicol has ripped into the Egyptian winger for what he described as an ‘awful’ spot kick. 

Nicol slams Salah penalty miss 

Speaking on ESPN, Nicol says he had never seen a player manage to put the ball so wide of the post from a penalty kick, before Salah’s effort. 

“Horrible. Awful.,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I saw the ball go so wide from a penalty kick. 

“Listen, I get it when you put it over the crossbar, but to go so wide. They were lucky to get the penalty in the first place, then you’ve got to take advantage of it and they didn’t.” 

The former Liverpool man’s verdict on Salah’s penalty does seem a bit harsh, especially as the 30-year-old has been reliable in these situations over the years. 

Salah was bound to miss a penalty once again at some point and unfortunately for Liverpool, it happened yesterday. 

Aside from his penalty miss, the Reds just didn’t trouble Gary O’Neil’s side often enough on the day and they missed an opportunity to move into fourth place before Tottenham’s win over Nottingham Forest. 

While yesterday’s defeat was disappointing for Liverpool, their form has improved dramatically over the past month and they will be hoping that this is just a bump in the road.