Liverpool superstar is now becoming just as lazy as Mo Salah
Liverpool are plumbing the depths of a crisis right now, with no respite from the staggering fall-off that has given rise to questions about Arne Slot’s capacity to lead this team forward from the dugout.
PSV Eindhoven rocked up at Anfield and won 4-1 in the Champions League. Only days after Nottingham Forest sent the Reds in a spin after winning 3-0 at Anfield. This is new and dangerous territory.
This palatial stadium, so feared throughout the years, has become a feasting ground for visitors this season. Slot believes he has the backing of FSG even against the backdrop of Liverpool’s worst run of form in 71 years – and, in fairness, the Dutch coach’s side are the reigning Premier League champions – but this the nadir, far more than just a calamity.
On Sunday, Liverpool meet West Ham United in London, desperate to turn a corner and get their domestic campaign back on track. To say the Merseyside outfit need to go back to basics would be redundant. To say they need to stop making silly errors would underline a theme that can be traced back to the opening day of the campaign.
Liverpool are in big bother, and Slot doesn’t appear to have the answers. There are so many different parts of this mess to dissect, but Mohamed Salah’s struggles have raged on, and surely he now needs to be dropped?
Why Slot should consider dropping Salah
Federico Chiesa has not been handed a starting berth in the Premier League this season. In fact, the Italian has only played from the opening whistle in the Carabao Cup.
Salah is only one month away from pausing his club campaign and jetting off to Morocco for the 2025 African Cup of Nations. Then Slot will need to find new wide solutions, so why not help create some coherence beforehand?
Because make no mistake, Liverpool’s legendary forward has been so far out of sorts this season it beggars belief.
Goals scored
0.34
0.28
Assists
0.17
0.28
Shots taken
2.43
3.42
Shot-creating actions
3.27
5.70
Touches (att pen)
6.21
6.84
Pass completion (%)
68.1
76.2
Progressive passes
4.19
3.13
Progressive carries
3.94
3.13
Successful take-ons
0.92
2.28
Ball recoveries
2.77
2.56
The 33-year-old isn’t faring much better on the continent, albeit the less physical style of the Champions League allows the Egyptian to play with a measure more freedom. As per Sofascore, Salah has won only 29% of his duels in the Premier League this season, completing just 30% of his dribbles besides.
Is an element of laziness creeping into his game? In fairness, the veteran winger has never been the most combative of defenders, and his incredible levels of prolificness have allowed him to operate in a looser manner, sticking forward when on the transition, for example.
But now that the goals and assists have dried up, Salah is toiling, and it’s raising questions as to whether he should be dropped.
Of course, he’s not the only one. Another of Slot’s mainstays from last year has fallen well out of form, and there’s a case to be made that his position is one that needs attention.
Liverpool superstar has become "lazy"
Last season, Ryan Gravenberch was the unlikely catalyst in a midfield that went on to lift the Premier League title. For his efforts, the Dutchman was awarded the division’s Young Player of the Year.
Gravenberch is not the problem, but his fall-off this season is symptomatic of the deeper chasm that Slot’s side have fallen into. After the defeat against PSV, Liverpool World branded the 23-year-old with a 4/10 match rating, writing of how he failed to give the struggling defenders any protection, albeit catching the eye with his passing in the first half.
On the face of it, Gravenberch didn’t play that badly. He completed 88% of his passes, created a chance, won all three of his ground duels and recovered five balls (data via Sofascore).
But the Netherlands international’s lack of physicality undercut his technical strengths, lacking the requisite aggression and positional value to hold down the fort at number six.
Journalist Jan Riha picked up on this, remarking that he “became the lazy old version of himself” against PSV. For sure, Gravenberch floated through his first Jurgen Klopp-led season at Liverpool, before Slot came along and turned him into a superstar.
FSG have known that Liverpool’s holding midfield position could do with reinforcing for some time. In 2023, a British-record bid was tabled for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo. The Ecuadorian joined Chelsea instead and Wataru Endo was signed as a stop-gap.
Then, at the start of Slot’s reign, Liverpool fought and failed to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad. Gravenberch’s emergence eased the frustration from that one, but it’s clear that an anchoring midfielder has been desired for some time, and Liverpool have not succeeded in bringing such a player in.
With Alexis Mac Allister so horribly out of sorts, Gravenberch cannot afford to dart around the midfield in a box-to-box manner. Liverpool need him to be stronger and more commanding in his deep-lying berth.
Slot needs more energy and more intensity from all of his players, but Gravenberch is the nucleus in the centre, and while Salah is rightly facing plenty of criticism for his abject campaign, the Dutch midfielder’s own woes have fallen somewhat under the radar.
Consistently this season, teams have found it far too easy to play through Liverpool, carving them open like a Christmas turkey. Gravenberch needs to be stronger, Liverpool need to be stronger. That’s it for the short term, but is it not becoming clear that FSG are going to need to sign a Fabinho-esque number six going forward?
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