Mohamed Salah produces another genius moment in Liverpool five past Watford |

Salah scores solo goal to rival Man City strike and provides outside of the foot assist
Roberto Firmino bags hat-trick as Jurgen Klopp’s team go top
Dismal start for new Watford manager Claudio Ranieri

He has done it again. For the eighth Liverpool game on the bounce, Mohamed Salah has scored. And each one seems to be better than the last. Which, after his Messi-like wonder goal against Manchester City might seem improbable. But here he was at it again, dancing past defenders as if they were traffic cones. Sure, given it was the fourth goal in as one-sided a rout as can be imagined it may not count as the most important of his career. But as a strike it was a moment to savour, a moment of impudence, a moment of magic.

Picking up the ball in the Watford area, he jinked and faded, tricked and feinted, beating three men as he danced, sending poor Craig Cathcart sprawling haplessly across the turf, before stroking the ball into the net. It was a goal of such magnificence, even the Watford fans were moved to applaud.

Mind, they hadn’t had much else to enjoy. What a woeful introduction this was for their new manager. The tinker man might have finally arrived at the tinker club, bit it must have dawned on Claudio Raneiri the moment this game got underway that the task required now he has taken control of his fourth Premier League side may be beyond a bit of tinkering. As he watched from the edge of his technical area, occasionally semaphoring futile instruction, Watford were frankly awful.

Thought the question was were they a shambles because Liverpool were so slick and efficient, or were Liverpool able to dominate because Watford were an exemplar of nervy panic? Whatever the root cause, rarely in the Premier League is such dominance encountered. The Liverpool fans must have gone back to Merseyside with sore palms from the amount of applause they got through, acknowledging the excellence of their side. From Virgil Van Dijk, smooth and unflustered at the back, through the veteran midfield pairing of Jordan Henderson and James Milner, to Salah up front, everywhere they were at ease. Everywhere they were brilliant.

Salah started things off after just eleven minutes, spinning Danny Rose like a top before bending a cross behind the Watford centre backs into Sadio Mane’s path. His finish was perfect.

The second was all too easy. Milner ran, as he does, hard at the Watford midfield. Noone seemed to recognise the danger and on the edge of the are he played a pass into Mane and kept on running, Mane gave a sublime reverse pass into his path. By now in the clear, he pulled the ball across the line for Roberto Firmino to score with ease. On the touchline Jurgen Klopp raised his arms in delight. And no wonder.

For Watford, Moussa Sissoko did his best to disrupt the flow, but was chasing shadows. The most the home side managed were a couple of breakaways involving Ismaila Sarr, that either petered out in a flurry of red shirts or the wave of the assistant’s flag. Sure, it didn’t help that Ranieri had decided to play Danny Rose as a left sided centre back and pushed Sarr into the middle instead of allowing him to attack Andy Robertson down the right as he had two to such effect when Watford beat Liverpool two seasons ago. But frankly, with Liverpool in this mood, a brick wall built across the goal line would have proved insufficient deterrent.

Such was their dominance, a third goal seemed inevitable. And it came early in the second half when the ball played out to Andy Robertson with a speed and precision that caught catch the Watford defenders once more on their heels. His cross fizzed across the box, before Cathcart slid in to prevent it arriving at the feet of Salah. Foster did well to save his deflection, but the ball rebounded to Firmino who joyfully popped away his second. And if Watford thought that was the limit of their misery, Salah then intervened.

Still, it was not over. Firmino scored with the last kick of the game, when he arrived unnoticed and uncontested at the far post to complete a hat trick of tap ins. Not that any Liverpool supporter will worry: tap ins count just as much as wonder goals. And right now their side can deliver either apparently at will.