West Ham 0-2 Liverpool
Mo Salah was dropped to the bench for Liverpool’s victory over West Ham and he could remain among the substitutes.
Arne Slot has been urged to keep Mo Salah confined to the Liverpool bench against Sunderland.
The Reds boss made the bold decision to omit Salah from his starting line-up for last Sunday’s trip to West Ham United. The decision arrived against the backdrop of the Reds suffering nine defeats in their previous 12 games, putting pressure on head coach Slot despite winning the Premier League title last season.
Salah is one of the best players in Liverpool’s history and is third on the club’s all-time top scorer charts. In the 2024-25 campaign, he plundered 34 goals and 23 assists in all competitions. But this term, he has been underwhelming and managed to score five times in 18 games.
Slot has to weigh up whether to restore Salah to XI - but former Liverpool full-back Nicol believes that cannot happen. Speaking on ESPN, Nicol said: “Liverpool, right now, have got to go game to game. The first one was West Ham without Mo Salah. Everything was better; there was better shape, there was no drama. You have to play the next game exactly the same.
“If Arne Slot is thinking about how I get Salah in the team, he is in the wrong job. Absolutely not (Salah should return).” Then asked if Salah should play when Liverpool travel to Leeds United on Saturday, Nicol replied: “It would depend on what happens against Sunderland. It's game to game. If they go out against Sunderland and are organised the same, don't give the opposition any chances, you keep going. they're not in a position to try to look after one guy, regardless of how good Salah has been for Liverpool. It is about the team, not one guy.”
Speaking at his pre-Sunderland press conference, Slot admitted that Salah was disappointed not to start against West Ham - but backed the 33-year-old to remain an important player for Liverpool.
He said: “That is a fair assumption (to be disappointed not to start) and a normal reaction from a player that is good enough to play for us, and I say it mildly because he has been so outstanding for this club for so many years and will be for us in the future. Of course, a player is not happy he isn’t playing. He was not the only one who wasn’t happy he wasn’t starting, I can tell you – and that’s normal.
“But the way he behaved is what you would expect from the professional he is. He was very supportive for his teammates, handled himself really well during the day and yesterday in the session as well. You cannot be a player that’s available every three days and play at those high standards if you go with your emotions but Mo is so disciplined, knows what he has to do to stay fit. No matter if he plays well, doesn’t play or if he doesn’t play he will always be that top professional and that is what he’s been in the last few days.”
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