Salah benched, Liverpool revived: Is Slot’s bold gamble signalling a new Anfield order?

Mohamed Salah has rarely been on the Liverpool bench in the last 17 months. In fact, the last time he was on the bench for Liverpool in the English Premier League (EPL) was when Jurgen Klopp was still the manager. But the almost-inevitable finally happened for the two-time league winner on Sunday (30 November) against West Ham.

With Liverpool suffering from a three-game losing streak, including a shambolic 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League, manager Arne Slot took the bold call to bench the 33-year-old star footballer against West Ham, resulting in a 2-0 resounding victory at the London Stadium.

Salah pays for poor form

It’s no surprise that Salah was dropped. The Egyptian right winger has been out of form for a while, scoring just four goals and making two assists in 12 Premier League matches so far this season. His last goal came on 1 November. In the Champions League, he has one goal from five games.

But it’s not just about his form. The way Liverpool shaped without him and won indicates that Slot may prefer keeping Salah on the bench to get the best out of his team.

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In Salah’s absence, Dominik Szoboszlai was finally taken away from the right-back and put on the right flank, putting in an energetic performance. Cody Gakpo was on the left and Alexander Isak was the forward.

In the end, Gakpo produced the cross that resulted in Isak’s goal, his first one in the league for Liverpool since moving to Anfield in a British record £125 million move from Newcastle United.

What it also did was that Joe Gomez was back as the right-back, his first start in the Premier League in 11 months. A proper defender helped Liverpool keep a clean sheet in London after the team conceded 10 goals in their last three games.

The £116 million signing, Florian Wirtz, also had a lively game.

Salah under pressure to recover form

While it always felt like Liverpool would struggle without Salah, who signed a new two-year deal in the summer, the Sunday match proved that teams do move on, regardless of how big a player is.

Slot defended his decision to drop Salah from the starting XI by stating it was more of a workload management decision and that the one-time Champions League winner is too good a player to stay down for too long.

“Mo has had an unbelievable career and will have a very good future at this club because he’s such a special player. But when you have four games in 10 days then you have to decide once in a while on a certain lineup,” Slot said after the match.

But Premier League legend Alan Shearer told the BBC that Salah deserved the drop due to the drop in his performance.

“It was a big call by Slot, but I guess it is made easier by Liverpool’s results. When things aren’t going for you, you have to make big decisions - and that was a big one because of what he’s done for Liverpool in the past,” Shearer said.

“But Salah can’t complain because he hasn’t been playing well, and when that’s the case, then you have to accept the decision. It has worked for Liverpool, and it has worked for Isak, because he was the difference.”

And that’s the main point. The system worked perfectly and fluidly without Salah. Some would say even more efficiently. At 33, Salah is not getting any younger for a fast-paced league like the EPL. And if he fails to rediscover his form quickly, the end of his Liverpool career may be very nigh.