Former Reds Manager Roy Hodgson Makes Bold Claim About Mohamed Salah Ahead of Liverpool Clash

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson believes that Egyptian sensation Mohamed Salah will be unable to replicate the outrageous form he showed last season.

Salah scored 44 goals for Liverpool in an historic season in which the Merseyside club reached the Champions League final. Despite a disappointing World Cup in which he couldn't help his Egypt side into the knockout stages, most fans and pundits are expecting Salah to have another great season with Liverpool.

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However, Roy Hodgson, who spent five months at the Merseyside club back in 2010, argues that Salah will be unable to cope with the drastic rise in expectations since last season, and will therefore be unable to replicate his heroics that saw him win PFA Player of the Season.

''There's no doubt in my mind that he will be good this season because of the qualities he possesses,'' the 71-year-old told Sky Sports, as quoted by the Daily Express.

''But of course for him and his club, people will keep cranking up expectations and that's not a great thing to deal with either for the player or the club.

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''You're playing against players who cost a lot of money, players who have a very strong pedigree, players whose technical ability is very good, whose physical capacity is good.

''I don't know that you can necessarily stop them for 90 minutes from getting anywhere near your goal - that might be too strong an objective.

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''But we hope we can keep them quiet enough for us to get enough of the ball and cause them enough problems to get a result in the game, it really isn't more complicated than that.''

Hodgson's Crystal Palace take on Liverpool on Monday night at Selhurst Park. Historically, Palace have a strong record against Liverpool, most notably scoring three second-half goals to effectively end Liverpool's title campaign in 2014. Therefore, Hodgson's comments about Salah may merely be the experienced manager trying to psych out his opposition by critiquing their best player