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Arne Slot has insisted that Mohamed Salah retains the "fire" required to perform for Liverpool— and will only grow worried when the forward starts accepting being left out of his starting XIs.
Salah was relegated to the bench for Wednesday's Champions League encounter against Eintracht Frankfurt and squandered several scoring opportunities during his brief substitute appearance as the Reds cruised to a commanding 5-1 victory.
The Egyptian appeared visibly frustrated following the final whistle and was amongst the first Liverpool players heading down the tunnel after acknowledging the traveling supporters.
While a groin problem for Alexander Isak means Salah is highly likely a return to the starting XI for Saturday's Premier League encounter at Brentford, Slot has no concerns about the 33-year-old's displeasure at being omitted, reports the Liverpool Echo.
"I hope he is not ever going to take it well, because the moment you are going to take it well, then you miss the fire," declared the Liverpool head coach.
"That goes for every player, by the way, not only Mo. The moment you start to accept that you are not playing anymore and you are fine with that, then you miss the fire that is needed to play at this level.
"My experience in general is that it's quite hard for a player to understand why he's not playing. They all see football through their eyes, and again that's a good thing.
"If you go over to all 20 players now to name a line-up, I'd be surprised if there's one player who doesn't put himself in. That's not to say that they don't understand we have more than a few good players here, and once in a while somebody isn't playing.
"But if we have to play a Champions League final tomorrow and you ask them to make a line-up, I'd be surprised if one of them doesn't put themselves in — except maybe youngsters Rio (Ngumoha) or Trey (Nyoni)."
Another goalless outing means Salah has now endured six Liverpool matches without finding the net. He is edging towards his longest such drought of eight games from February and March of 2019.
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Slot, however, remains convinced that the forward will recapture the lethal touch on display during his eight previous seasons with the club.
"The way he trains, and when we do finishing drills, you cannot lose that," Slot said. "The only thing is we have to keep bringing him in to those positions, and he has to bring himself into those positions.
"There are a lot of things that can happen when you get older. But if I can select one player who has the ball 12, 13 yards from goal and he should score that to save my reputation, I would have Mo in that position. Now he needs to show that he can get into those positions."
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