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When the Liverpool teamsheet dropped against Galatasaray last week, there was one glaring omission. Mohamed Salah was listed, but only among the substitutes.
While there are seven more Champions League fixtures to play and Arne Slot said it was only because of rotation — he doesn't want a situation where Liverpool is unable to sustain its levels all season — it was likely easier to take Salah out of the starting XI because of his recent form. Normally, the 33-year-old plays every game.
Salah has scored three times this season so far, but two of those goals have come from the penalty spot. He hasn't looked his usual sharp self and Marc Cucurella didn't help the narrative this weekend.
The Chelsea left-back, who played well and stifled the Egyptian, said that Enzo Maresca targeted Salah's tendency not to track back, claiming that the winning goal scored by Estevao came via such an observation.
The ball was played down the left flank, crossed into the box, and the Brazilian teenager was able to slide in and divert it into an unguarded net.
But while Salah has not started the season well — and the beginning of a campaign tends to be when he performs at his best — the emphasis on what has changed and gone wrong at Liverpool has entirely missed the point.
Wayne Rooney — someone normally worth listening to when it comes to his punditry and assessment of attacking play, in particular — essentially suggested that Salah was lazy. Such a criticism, frankly, is ludicrous.
"I think the last week has shown something," Rooney said on his BBC podcast. "When it’s gone well, you’re scoring goals and you’re winning games, I think it’s great and the team will put up with that.
"But I think over the last week, I have to question his work ethic. I think we know he doesn’t always get back and defend as much."
Gary Lineker has hinted at something similar, and Danny Murphy and Ian Wright questioned how much freedom Arne Slot really gives to Salah over the weekend.
"It's two-v-one on Conor Bradley and Salah sort of tries to press a little bit, and then just stops and relaxes like we have seen [Lionel] Messi do time and time again over his career," Gabby Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT.
"Liverpool can't afford to be a man down defensively. Cucurella had him in his pocket the whole 96 minutes."
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Salah is not having an easy time of things at the moment, and he isn't playing well. But his positioning is by design: to give him the best chance of scoring and creating in the final third.
When Trent Alexander-Arnold was at full-back for Liverpool, the emphasis was never on Salah getting back to help him out. All that was ever spoken about was how bad he supposedly was at defending.
Salah spoke with Slot when the Liverpool boss first arrived on Merseyside and they agreed that he wouldn't have to track back as much, as long as he was being impactful going the other way.
That, really, is where the problem lies: right now, the Liverpool man is struggling for form where it really matters — in front of goal.
Alexander Isak is still getting up to speed and Florian Wirtz is still finding his feet, and when they each get back to the levels they are capable of, things will look different. This is, after all, the exact Salah plan that worked so effectively last season.
Putting the blame of the balance on Salah's desire to help Liverpool succeed, however, is a complete misunderstanding of his game.
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