Salah’s performances this season have been widely considered to have fallen short of his usual superstar standards. In the Premier League, he has scored only four goals and chipped in with just two assists in 12 appearances, a significant relative drop from his 29 goals and 18 assists last season. His attacking numbers have noticeably declined across the board, including fewer shots, touches in the opposition’s penalty box, and a much lower dribble completion rate per 90 minutes. Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness have criticised his form and lack of defensive contribution. But the departure of creative partner Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid is cited as a significant contributing factor to his struggles in the new system under Slot, who has now dropped the Egyptian to the bench for the crunch clash with West Ham at the London stadium.
Ahead of the match with West Ham, Slot told Sky Sports: “We played four games in 10 days. I have many good players so today I chose a different line-up. Sometimes Alex is on the bench, sometimes Florian. It’s about the players on the pitch. It’s the 11 I chose. I have more than 11 good players and it’s not the first time I’ve chosen not to play Mo.”
Salah delivered an anonymous performance in the home defeat by PSV and after the match Kop legend Carragher tore into the Liverpool forward.
Carragher told CBS Sports: “I’m angry with the players, if I’m being totally honest, I’m really angry with the players. But it does get to a stage with any manager at any club — I always use this word — untenable, where it almost feels like it can’t go on any longer. I’m not quite there yet, personally in terms of the manager, but I know a lot of supporters will be. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, because I knew the game was over well before the final whistle. I think what you see now is, Liverpool in 2018 under (Jurgen) Klopp starts this sort of journey being a great team, and then Slot comes in, and we’re now seven or eight years later.
Carragher added: “The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of that run was Alisson, van Djik and Salah. Alisson’s injured a lot now, so he doesn’t play so much, but you’re watching van Djik now, not the same player, and Mo Salah looks like his legs have gone. I don’t like criticising them, and I think some of the criticism of them this season as players has been harsh. You’re always looking for your leaders in your team to step up when things are not going well.”
And speaking to talkSPORT, Reds hero Souness said: “How long have we got?. He’s been an absolute superstar. This is the nicest thing I can say about Salah, he’s been the go-to man for the last seven years. If you’re picking an all-time Liverpool eleven, he’s one of the first names on the team sheet. I think it’s his brother that’s turned up this season.”
Mo will have to wait for his chance against West Ham and then look to his manager to reintroduce him with matches against Sunderland and Leeds in the coming seven days. But soon he will be heading off to represent Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations and could miss as many as eight games across the festive and New Year period.
