Arne Slot changed formation for Liverpool's Champions League trip to Eintracht Frankfurt with Mohamed Salah dropped to the substitutes' bench
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Liverpool FC at Frankfurt Stadion
Mohamed Salah was left out of the starting XI as Liverpool faced Eintracht Frankfurt
View Image
Arne Slot stepped away from his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation after benching Mohamed Salah for Liverpool’s Champions League trip to Eintracht Frankfurt. The Reds had lost their last four matches heading into their trip to Germany.
Having suffered a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United last time out when naming an unchanged starting XI, the Dutchman made five changes for Wednesday night’s clash with the Bundesliga opposition.
Salah dropped out of the starting XI, along with Alexis Mac Allister, the injured Ryan Gravenberch, Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley, as Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Curtis Jones, Jeremie Frimpong and Andy Robertson all came into the Liverpool side.
With Salah missing from the line-up, it was initially unclear who would be starting on the right-wing. Frimpong had previously played in the role when the Egyptian was benched for the Reds’ previous Champions League clash with Galatasaray.
Meanwhile, UEFA had Slot’s side lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Ekitike starting on the right. However, it soon became clear that that was not the case after kick-off. Instead, Liverpool lined up in a more traditional 4-4-2 set-up when not in possession, with Wirtz starting on the right of midfield.
The change of formation also saw Isak and Ekitike partnering each other in attack for the first time in a £204m strike-partnership following their summer arrivals from Newcastle United and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.
When in possession, Wirtz would move into a more central role behind the two strikers, with Frimpong then providing width on the right from full-back.
The Netherlands international would be forced off with a hamstring injury after just 19 minutes, with Conor Bradley coming on in his place. The substitution did not prompt a change to the Reds set-up.
Content Image
Content Image
Slot had hinted at such a set-up when speaking to TNT Sports ahead of kick-off.
"We need to try today again is to create as much chances as we have the last few weeks," he said. "Because that is very helpful that we have two players in the team who can score a goal.
"We are hoping and expecting Jeremie Frimpong to create something for these two from the right side and Cody Gakpo trying to do the same off the left, with Florian Wirtz's creativity in and around our two number nines.
"That is looking at how they normally set up, the idea. They can play together. They showed this against United, although it was the second half. But it does mean that our midfield needs to be structured a little bit differently.
"Where we normally play with one six, now we need Curtis and Dom to be a bit more defensively-minded than one of the two normally is."