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Gary Neville believes a subtle, easily overlooked moment involving Mohamed Salah during Liverpool’s clash with Manchester United captures Arne Slot’s opinion on the winger's performance.
Arne Slot’s team have now suffered four consecutive defeats in all competitions, with Bryan Mbeumo setting Manchester United on course for a memorable victory at Anfield. The opener came in controversial fashion, as Alexis Mac Allister lay stricken on the pitch with a head injury when Mbeumo calmly slotted past Giorgi Mamardashvili to give United the lead inside 90 seconds.
Liverpool fought back after the break, with Cody Gakpo equalising to ignite hopes of a comeback, but Harry Maguire’s late strike sealed a dramatic win for the visitors.
Salah’s record in these fixtures is outstanding, but he struggled to make an impact this time. There were flashes of sharpness and some neat link-up play with Alexander Isak, yet Luke Shaw handled him well throughout and limited his influence.
The Egyptian was replaced by Jeremie Frimpong inside 85 minutes and it was the substitution that Neville thought summed up Slot's feelings. Speaking on Sky Sports, the former United defender said: "It has gone under the radar but for Slot to take Mohamed Salah off, at a point when Liverpool needs a goal, shows exactly what he thinks of his performance."
Salah has managed just three goals and three assists in ten appearances for the Reds this season — a sharp contrast to his 34 goals and 23 assists during Slot’s first campaign, which helped fire Liverpool to the Premier League title.
In recent weeks, questions have emerged over the Egyptian’s defensive contribution — an aspect of his game that has rarely been scrutinised in the past, largely because of the exceptional attacking threat he consistently provides.
Jamie Carragher believes that the forward “needs to do more in terms of output.” He also highlighted a “slight worry” over the 33-year-old’s dip in form at the start of the season. S
Speaking ahead of the United game, Carragher said: “I don’t think you’ve been asked to do anything differently,” Carragher said on Sky Sports. “He will be missing Trent Alexander Arnold – who wouldn’t? That partnership wasn’t just last season that was built up over five or six seasons.
“Liverpool have used four right backs this season, so that that doesn’t help. You go back to actually to the Carabao Cup final, when Salah had a really poor game against Newcastle, I think was Jarell Quansah who playing right back that game.
“So it just shows that no matter how big an individual is or how great the player is, they need help from the teammate, there’s no doubt about that.
“But I think right now, as well, Salah needs to do more in terms of output. There’s there’s no doubt about that. The one slight worry I have with Salah is, we’ve seen this before, where he goes five six games, doesn’t look at his best, and then he’ll score a couple of goals – fingers crossed that happens today.
“But normally, that’s towards the end of the season. He normally comes flying off the blocks, especially when he’s had the summer off. And I was expecting that this season, especially on the back of Liverpool signing Isak, Wirtz and them grabbing the headlines.”
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