So it transpires that Mohamed Salah has something in common with much of the West Ham fanbase. They all have unhappy memories of the London Stadium. The Egyptian’s may stem less from the sense that a soulless bowl is ill-suited to football or some particularly demoralising home defeats than from two low points in a Liverpool career of many a high.
There was the argument with Jurgen Klopp when waiting to come on in May 2024, which highlighted that, mutually beneficial as the alliance of two of the most prominent figures in Liverpool’s success over the last decade had proved, they were not soulmates. There was the next Premier League game he began on the bench, 18 months later, when he remained there, also giving him a chance to savour the London Stadium’s lack of atmosphere.
