Mo Salah on Rio Ngumoha, Teaming up with Ekitike and Visualizing Another Trophy

0:00Rog:You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio. You know, playing alongside new signing Hugo Eketike, what have you learned about Hugo's tendencies and how you two can fuse together? I'm trying to figure it out so far. I didn't figure it out yet.

0:24Rog:My guest today is a footballing chess grandmaster coming off a championship season of wonder, which I felt like he couldn't even get out of bed without either setting or breaking some record on a near weekly basis. Fresh off his second Premier League title, fourth Premier League golden boot, third PFA Player of the Year award and his annual yellow card for taking off his shirt. It's a joy to welcome back. It's Mr Mo Salah. Hello. I want to start by going back two weeks to the game Liverpool started their Premier League title defence. It was at home against Bournemouth. After opening a two-goal lead, Bummer thought about 2-2 before Federico Chiesa unleashed a right foot of justice.

1:03Rog:In the 88th minute, he gave Liverpool a lead. You added a goal of your own. After that final whistle, you walked towards the Kop, stood there, took it in. It was an incredibly powerful moment to witness. What emotions were you experiencing in that moment? I don't know. It was quite tricky for me because I didn't prepare myself for that. It just happened like that quick. Usually I clap for the fans after the game to tell them, like, thank you for coming to the game. Then once I stood in front of the club, they were singing for Diogo. Then emotions come in my mind and I just try to handle it. But then you can see many people in the club also are, like, showing their emotions or what they feel.

1:45So then you start to break down a little bit.

1:47Rog:It was an incredible moment in a season that's already been full of them. I mean, you have started your title defence. You played just sizzling, barnstorming football. You built up and then you've lost a pair of two goal leads. And then you fought back in the last seconds to deliver two breathtaking wins. That ability, we often explain it away. We say Liverpool are mentality monsters. But Mo, from the inside, can you describe this team's mentality from the way that you live it out inside your own mind? When the seconds tick down and other teams would just settle for a draw, a frustrating draw what are the thoughts that go through your head that allow you to to step up and summon a winner in my head is like okay there is a lot of thoughts a lot of frustration like everyone has it just depends what everyone want to pick the thoughts and just be engaged with it so for me i just try to watch all sorts and not be engaged with any of them because once you pick one and you just gonna start think and it start to feel negative and just start like go to the rabbit hole.

2:53But for me I just see it like okay that's just thoughts don't try to make it thinking so just keep it as a thoughts. So I'm just trying to do not be engaged with any of the thoughts and just okay it's two-two so let's go from there like nothing I can do now or think about it will make it any better. Just the only thing you need to stay positive and okay you can make the difference. That's what I always say myself. You can just make the difference. Nothing in your hand you can control. So try to control what you can control, which is your thinking. So think in a positive way and that's it.

3:29Rog:Is it something that you all work on collectively in training psychologically as a group? Or is it something that you just have to find your own individual pathway to? No, I don't think we work on it as a group. Just like something individual, you just need to work on it. To think different than other players or at least not to go to a rabbit hole when you have that negative thoughts. Because it also comes with experience sometimes. Like I think when I was younger, I had just been engaged with those thoughts. But it didn't help much anyway. Like it wouldn't make any difference. Like the result was still 2-2.

4:00Even if you engage with those thoughts or if you ignore it, the result will be 2-2 anyway. So I think when I talk to myself, I say, okay, what thinking do I need to feel now? or thoughts that I need to feel now to feel better. So then you start like, okay, I'm going to pick the one will help me in a game, not the one will grab me down.

4:23Rog:There's a psychologist who said 80 % of the things we think about or worry about in life never come to pass. They only focus on the positive and the embodiment of that.

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4:52Rog:You've come on this show before and you've talked about how you visualize before every game the exact goal you want to try and score. Do you allow yourself to visualize titles, Mo? Do you ever mentally picture another set of red ribbons on a Premier League trophy? That was last season, yes. This season, not yet, but it was last season, yeah, of course. I think everything I visualised, we had it last season, of me holding the Premier League or just kissing the Premier League or just being a braid with the team. That all was like, it was in my mind, not just last season, maybe the season before and the season before, but it will pay off one time.

5:28So that was last season and it pays off in the best possible way.

5:32Rog:In addition to your incredible goal haul, you've also had over 100 assists for Liverpool or competitions. And we previously talked about how you learn the different tendencies, the idiosyncrasies of your teammates in that front line, where they want the ball, who wants it to feet, who to space, who in the air. You're now playing alongside new signing Hugo Eketike. Three goals so far, but he's less a space maker or a decoy. He wants the ball. He wants the score. What have you learned about Hugo's tendencies and how you two can fuse together? I'm trying to figure it out so far. I didn't figure it out yet.

6:08With Diogo or Darwin and Lucho, I know their game very well. But with Hugo, he's still new. So sometimes he needs a ball in the field, sometimes he needs a space. We try to figure that out through the training or the videos the manager shows us. I will figure it out soon because it's going to help my game to grow as well.

6:28Rog:The game against Newcastle Monday night, that barnstormer winner scored by Rio Numoha, a kid who's somehow younger than the iPhone. Not only was it his first Premier League debut, but the goal capped a sequence of play where every single Liverpool outfield player was involved in the build-up. Your assist, Dominic Sobberslaas, Pulitzer Prize winning dummy. Mo, Rio is 16. It was his first ever Premier League shot on goal. His blood pressure must have been 373 over 180 or whatever. You know him. Where does his composure come from? And what future do you see for him? I think he had a great finish.

7:03He finished the ball very well. I'm glad that he didn't have much time to think about it because I think if he had, he would miss it. But what future would be waiting for him? I think he's still so young. I told him after the game, just leave the social media alone. Just, okay, you can be happy about the goal with your family, with your friends. Enjoy the moment to the max because it's like your first moment in football. But don't really get engaged and just get your appreciation from outside world because it's like it's always going to be fake. You're going to always try to seek that feelings from outside if you just get the appreciation from outside.

7:40So what future is waiting for him depends how he's gonna handle the situation, depends how he's gonna work and he need to work hard and just stay humble because he's very young. Some players, which I told him, that some players peak too early, which they're gonna struggle after that. So I really wish him the best. He has a good group and we always try to speak with him and the manager also speaks to him. So he just needs to stay humble and work and we see.

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8:43Rog:Mo, we've talked a lot about your commitment to fitness. The stat keepers say last season, your peak sprint velocity was the highest of your career. We've talked about the food that you avoid. You've told me to avoid anything that's not green, which I now do. But how do you do it? What is the secret in your own words, Mo? How do you keep improving as you get older? I'm a bit disciplined when it comes to that. and I know what could benefit me in a game, what not. Like if I can, I think I eat like the other people, but just like I'm a little bit more disciplined to choose what to eat, when to eat.

9:21And I think so far it's working well.

9:24Rog:There's got to be something mental. It's just not the eating, Mo. And I don't know what the cheap food is, but God, the diet book that you bring out will be a world bestseller. Last question for you, Mo. You've won so much. on both an individual and a team level. And I loved that after you won your third PFA Players Player Award, you revealed that you gave it to your eldest daughter to keep in her bedroom. And then you added, you let your youngest have your golden boot and you said that was your favorite. Mo, it's a beautiful thing to think about that personal connection between father and daughter through football.

9:59Rog:What do you hope your daughters will see when they look up in their bedroom and they see their dad's trophies? Well, I didn't say I give it to her. I said she took it from me. So it's a big difference. I went home and I put it behind the door immediately and she took it. So the youngest came and cried. Then I told her, okay, I'll give you the golden put. Then after she changed her mind, she said, no, I want the other one. So they are my life. What I want them to look at me, that they are really proud of who I am and what I achieved. Because this is the most important thing for any father. He wanted to see that in his kids.

10:38Because that means the world to me. Like, have that feeling from them and see that in their eyes. This is the most important thing, more than anything I achieved in my life.

10:46Rog:Mo Salah, shukran. Thank you. Thank you. Chowrit.