David Moyes has novel way of stopping Mo Salah on weakened Everton left

April 2, 2025
Sam Millne

David Moyes has cheekily suggested a novel way of stopping Mo Salah during the Merseyside derby, as Everton are forced to field a weakened left side.

For nearly eight years, managers have tried and failed to stop Salah on his way to becoming Liverpool’s third-highest goalscorer ever.

Against sides managed by Moyes, Salah has scored nine goals for the Reds, including the team’s second at Goodison Park in February.

Asked how to stop the Egyptian, Moyes laughed and joked: “We could try and build a wall or something to stop him and do all sorts of things to see if we can [stop him].

“But he’s such a talented player, he has been, but we did quite a good job on him in the first game so we’ll have to hope we can do something similar again in this game.

“He’s having an unbelievable season for Liverpool and let’s be fair, we’re talking about one of the top Premier League players of this generation anyway.

“And it’s not just this season. He’s been so consistent over most seasons, scoring plenty of goals, plenty of assists, looks as if he plays all the games, very rarely injured, so he’s been an excellent player for Liverpool.”

Moyes was then asked if Salah would go down as one of the Premier League era’s greatest-ever players, to which he replied: “Yeah, yeah.

“We’ll enjoy taking him to the airport and getting him on the plane and getting him out!”

Everton injuries leave left exposed

The threat of Salah could be made even greater at Anfield due to Everton being likely to field a makeshift left-hand side.

Salah, as the Reds’ right winger, is expected to come up against 39-year-old Ashley Young, who could line up at left-back due to doubts over Vitalii Mykolenko’s fitness.

On Tuesday, Moyes said: “[Mykolenko] has got a bit of an injury but he’s back. He did a bit in training yesterday so we’re hopeful he’ll be okay, but we still have to wait and see tomorrow exactly how he is.”

Meanwhile, Jack Harrison could play on the left wing due to the probable absence of Dwight McNeil and Iliman Ndiaye, whom the manager noted are now “back in training.”

Harrison has started 17 league games this season but just four of those have been on the left. Young, too, is more suited to a right-sided berth, featuring there 16 times this campaign in comparison to his four games on the left.