Could Mohamed Salah really leave Liverpool after being benched for back-to-back games by Arne Slot?
On April 11 of this year, Liverpool posted a video on their social media channels accompanied by the words 'The story continues' and a crown emoji. Nobody had to press play to understand what it all meant: after months and months of incessant speculation over Mohamed Salah's future, Anfield's Egyptian King had finally agreed a new contract with the club.
"I'm very excited," the winger said of his two-year extension. "We have a great team now. Before also we had a great team, but signed because I think we have a chance to win other trophies and enjoy my football. It's great, I had my best years here. I played eight years; hopefully, it's going to be 10."
Right now, though, that looks highly unlikely. Indeed, former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp says that he'd be "amazed if Salah sees out the last year-and-a-half of his contract" – and it's surprisingly easy to understand why.
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Toggle'Gamble' pays off spectacularly
The idea of Salah leaving Liverpool just over six months after signing a new contract should be absurd. As if anyone needs reminding, he didn't just play a part in the Reds romping to a record-equalling 20th English title last season, he took centre stage by producing one of the greatest individual campaigns in Premier League history.
Salah racked up 29 goals and 18 assists, resulting in him becoming the first man ever to win the Golden Boot, the Playmaker Award and Player of the Season in the same year. As far as Salah was concerned, his numerous records and sensational stats were a direct consequence of new coach Arne Slot ceding to his request to let him focus solely on scoring and creating goals.
"The tactics are quite different [to the Jurgen Klopp era]," Salah told . "Now I don't defend much. I said [to Slot] 'As long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively', so I am glad that I did. He listened a lot and you can see the numbers. When you play in the Premier League you have to defend, but I said that I can gamble and somehow I can make a difference."
Unfortunately for Salah, Slot and Liverpool, the risk is no longer proving worth the reward.
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Target for opponents
Salah is by no means the only reason why Liverpool are struggling this season: the defence is a disaster, the forwards are misfiring, while Dominik Szoboszlai is the only midfielder playing well. However, the dramatic drop in Salah's productivity is startling – and seriously hurting his side.
For example, after 14 rounds of last season's Premier League, Salah had propelled Liverpool to the top of the table with 13 goals and seven assists. This time around, the Reds are currently languishing in eighth place, with Salah having contributed just four goals and two assists.
Worse still, opponents are now targeting Liverpool's right-hand side even more than they did when Trent Alexander-Arnold was stationed behind Salah – and to great effect.
"We know that Salah is always ready for the counter-attack," Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella told after setting up Estevao for a last-minute winner against the Reds on October 4. "So, we practiced that, and the manager (Enzo Maresca) said that the space might be there."
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No longer a difference-maker
Slot initially defended the freedom afforded to Salah, arguing that in the very same game against Chelsea there were "five or six moments where Mo could have made the difference for us" because the Egypt international was still being allowed to remain so high up the field.
"And if that would have happened, then we would have had a conversation like last season, where he so many times made the difference for us," Slot told reporters. "But if that doesn't happen then you get comments like this [from Cucurella]. It's always about the balance between winger and full-backs. I want our full-backs to attack as well, so we have to find the right balance in that, but we are conceding too many crosses compared to last season, and this is something I'm aware of and we have to do better."
It seems that Slot has now decided that taking Salah out of the starting line-up is the best solution to this particular problem.
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Dropped
Against West Ham last Sunday, Slot deployed the multi-talented Szoboszlai on the right-hand side, with Joe Gomez tucked in behind him. Unsurprisingly, Liverpool looked far more solid in defence and kept their first clean sheet for nearly a month. In addition, Florian Wirtz flourished in the attacking midfield role vacated by Szoboszlai.
Consequently, Slot elected to make just one change for Wednesday's visit of Sunderland, with Andy Robertson taking over at left-back from Milos Kerkez, who had gone down with a cramp at the London Stadium. However, Jamie Carragher, who has been very critical of Salah's media silence during Liverpool's shocking slump, was "surprised" by the decision not to recall the forward.
"I've said this season I don't think Mo Salah should play every game, but when I said that I was thinking predominantly away games – not so much at Anfield," Carragher explained on . "Arne Slot can dress the weekend up as Liverpool have four games in 10 days, and you have to look at which games you play him in.
"Sunderland will play deep and make it difficult so I expected this to be the one where Salah plays. For him to be on the bench doesn't feel like rest or rotation; it's dropped. But sooner or later Liverpool do have to pivot away from being the Salah team and towards being the Wirtz and (Alexander) Isak team, and maybe we saw a glimpse of that [at West Ham]."
However, if Sunday at least hinted at a brighter future, Wednesday provided an immediate reminder of the grim reality of Liverpool's present predicament.
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