2 weeks ago
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Arne Slot has been told that it is time to take Mohamed Salah out of the Liverpool side in a bid to arrest the team's slump.
Salah produced another underwhelming performance on Sunday as Liverpool was beaten 2-1 at Anfield by Manchester United, and he has not scored a goal from open play in the Premier League since the opening game of the season.
The 33-year-old missed a gilt-edged chance to equalize for Liverpool in the second half, when he received a cross unmarked in the area and put the ball wide of Senne Lammens' near post. Former Premier League striker Gabby Agbonlahor also said that Salah and Isak are yet to show any signs of striking up a relationship with each other.
"Salah's not firing. Salah and Isak have got no relationship at the moment," Agbonlahor told talkSPORT. "Whenever Salah's trying to put him through, he's not making the runs.
"Then [Hugo] Ekitike is on the bench, should he have been starting?
"I think they've got a problem there, it just seems [that it's] not working at the moment for Liverpool."
Agbonlahor called on Slot to take Salah out of the team and replace him with either Hugo Ekitike or Jeremie Frimpong.
Ekitike and Frimpong both started on the bench against United but made an impact after coming on in the second half, with Ekitike injecting some dynamism into the home team's attack, and Frimpong standing up a brilliant cross from which Cody Gakpo should have equalized after Harry Maguire's 83rd-minute strike.
"I think it is [time to take Salah out of the team], I think you have to be honest, he's not performing," Agbonlahor added. "He's not offering much defensively, and yesterday, he kept on cutting inside and trying to force passes that weren't on.
"Manchester United never left space in behind, he kept trying a little dink pass in behind - which maybe with a high line would work.
"But he's not looking like the player [he was] last season, there's no harm in bringing him out.
"And do you play Frimpong on that right hand side? Do you get Ekitike to do a job on that right hand side?
"Whatever it is, you can't keep playing a player who's not performing."
Next up for Liverpool is a trip to Ekitike's old club, Frankfurt, in the Champions League, before a Premier League game away to Brentford next weekend.
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