Arne Slot has decided to drop Mohamed Salah for Liverpool's clash with West Ham on Sunday afternoon.
Liverpool are looking to put an end to a torrid run of form as they travel to the capital for their latest Premier League fixture. The Reds are winless in three and were outclassed by PSV in the Champions League during the week.
And Slot has responded to the loss by axing Salah from the starting line-up, naming Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz as his attacking trio with Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in the midfield.
Arne Slot has made a huge call in attack (Image: Daniel Chesterton/Offside via Getty Images)
"He’s dropped Salah but started Gakpo," one fan fumed on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"I’m a big fan of Slot and it takes balls to drop Mo, fair play. I really hope this is the beginning of a turning point for him. Just win lads yeah," a second said. While a third shared: "You’ve bench your best player Salah , you still want to lose today?"
"Dropping Salah but not Gakpo is sackable," a third posted. And another added: "Got excited about Joe Gomez starting just to realise Salah is benched…"
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live ahead of the clash, Phil Jagielka said: "We have heard lots of people say that Liverpool haven't got a Plan B and I can't believe how much it has worked.
"A club as big as Liverpool, every club in the Premier League has captains, they're the people you speak to regularly and are your generals on the pitch.
"You don't have to speak to just one person to put your points across. There should be five or six players, subs warming up, this is how a changing room operates. It is quite confusing.
"Van Dijk and Salah are both underperforming. Virgil is probably getting away with it a bit more because of Konate.
"As far as Salah, this is always the case with him. He can go missing at times but his figures and stats and numbers were ridiculous.
"Whether the contracts gave them the drive to get the deal - I'm not saying they haven't got the drive anymore - but they've signed a striker. Isak is used to Newcastle playing for Isak.
"Getting the wide men wide, putting the ball in the box. Salah is not that guy."