Unlocking Mohamed Salah
Arne Slot has presented his star player with the keys to his team.
So Mohamed Salah is doing pretty crazy things right now. He scored and registered another two assists against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon, with Liverpool running out impressive 5-0 winners in London.
That means he’s now amassed a total of 30 goals and assists in the Premier League this term, even though I’m writing this post in a coffee shop next to a Christmas tree. We haven’t even experienced New Year’s Eve yet. Players rarely hit those numbers, especially in December.
Just eight players from Europe’s big five leagues managed to post 30 scoring contributions last season: Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé, Cole Palmer, Artem Dovbyk, Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins, Serhou Guirassy and Loïs Openda. Salah is the first to hit that landmark this term, and it’ll probably take at least a month before somebody joins him.
Indeed, Liverpool have only scored 45 league goals as a team unit this season. That’s good, of course, but our Egyptian king is behind 30 of them, equating to about 67 per cent of Arne Slot’s attack.
Now, as much as I’d like to dedicate yet another post to Salah’s brilliance, I did cover his outrageous form just last month. You can read that piece here. So instead, this time around, I’m going to focus more on how Liverpool have unlocked him.
We know what Salah witnessed when he first arrived on Merseyside. You had Roberto Firmino through the middle as the only number nine in the world who posted more tackles than goals, and you had Sadio Mané cutting inside from the left wing to compensate for that.
Salah offered further insurance for Jürgen Klopp and virtually guaranteed 20 goals per season from the right flank. His threat has largely remained untouched throughout his Anfield career, but the whole dynamic did change a bit when the Reds invested in a certain Darwin Núñez in 2022.
With the Uruguayan striker essentially incapable of being anything but the tip of his team’s spear, Salah seemed to undergo a subtle shift to become more of a creative spark than a finisher.
Indeed, his total of 13 non-penalty goals in the Premier League last term was his worst in red — noticeably down from his previous low of 16 — and that stemmed from Núñez always running beyond him.
Slot has tweaked things since his appointment, restoring Salah as Liverpool’s finisher by ensuring that he’s always taking part at the very end of the move, staying high and dedicating less energy to defending than anybody else.
Núñez has fallen down the pecking order with Slot leaning towards Diogo Jota and Luis DÃaz as number nine options, with both of those often dropping deeper than Salah.
The Reds boss has also been eager to present his best attacker with a countless number of one-on-one situations by feeding him with long passes from the likes of Virgil van Dijk, while encouraging Trent Alexander-Arnold to vacate the right side of the pitch as a means of leaving Salah isolated with vulnerable opponents.
In fact, he’s already dribbled past 31 players in the Premier League this term. For context, he completed just 27 throughout the entirety of last season, meaning his rate on a per-90 basis has essentially doubled.
I’ve talked about the idea of unlocking players quite a few times on this Substack. You unlock elements of Salah’s game by signing a centre-back like Van Dijk, because of those diagonal passes. You unlock his runs in behind by fielding him next to Firmino, and so on.
But Sunday’s performance against West Ham got me thinking. I don’t think we talk enough about what Alexander-Arnold does for Salah. The duo are partners in crime. Kindred spirits.
Alexander-Arnold inspired this post. He’s always looking for Salah, playing so many passes that create favourable situations for him. It’s not just assists. I’m thinking about the passes from his own half whenever Liverpool gain an opportunity to break.
This Liverpool team is made to maximise Salah, but I can’t help thinking about a potential Alexander-Arnold departure and how that would impact our star talisman up front.
For what it’s worth, I think Conor Bradley would be a pretty good internal replacement for the Scouse defender, but those passes in the direction of Salah are special. Without Alexander-Arnold, you’d probably lose many of them.
Every player is connected within the confines of a team. I often compare squads to recipes. You can make certain flavours pop by combining them with specific ingredients. Well, Salah is popping for Liverpool right now, and it’s not a surprise given he’s pretty much been given the keys to the team.
Alexander-Arnold hasn’t left Merseyside yet. Keep loving him. Don’t get ahead of yourself. There’s still plenty of time for him to sign on the dotted line, and you should be thrilled if he stays. Although perhaps not quite as thrilled as Salah.
The thing is…I remember last season seeing Salah being a bit of a side man in terms of chances and now when you look at it it makes so much sense give the ball to the best scorer. Grounded wisdom with Slot no more of trying to fix Darwin..
Absolutely!
Also that whilst Trent’s one touch through balls unlock Salah in attack.. he never gets enough credit for having to take on some extra defensive duty when Salah often stays as the highest player!
Feels a bit bizarre to say, but if Salah was a bit more clinical with 1-on-1’s Trent would have a hell of a lot more assists… likewise Virg with corners!
But generally have really enjoyed seeing Salah become so involved this year, and he has looked so happy and likes he’s really enjoying it!