Former Liverpool forward Emile Heskey has cited the differences between the way Arne Slot has built his Reds his compared to his predecessor Jurgen Klopp
Mohamed Salah is without a goal in his last 10 Premier League appearances
Mohamed Salah is without a goal in his last 10 Premier League appearances(Image: PA)
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Former Liverpool forward Emile Heskey is calling on the Reds' big names to step up for Arne Slot in the closing weeks of the season, but he admits he'd have found it difficult to play in the same side as Mohamed Salah.
The Reds boosted hopes of a top five finish with a 5-2 victory over West Ham United on Saturday, and although sights have been lowered since the reigning champions began the season as many people's title favourites, securing Champions League football after a turbulent campaign will be seen as a success of sorts.
Ex-Red Heskey, a cup treble winner under Gerard Houllier in 2001, has been a keen observer of how Arne Slot has built his side since taking over from Jurgen Klopp in the summer of 2024, and feels the Dutchman has been largely focused on his attack during his time at Anfield.
"I think you're looking at individual players to step up for Liverpool," Heskey told OLBG.
"When Jurgen Klopp was at Liverpool he started from the back and built the defence first. He didn't worry too much about the forwards. He knew that would all come.
"He cemented a structure at the back that basically sustained them up until not so long ago and it's done really well over the years that he was there. Then he could go onto the forwards and really start building that heavy metal football.
"With Arne Slot, he’s gone with the forward line first, and it's been a little bit more difficult at times because you want Florian Wirtz to be getting on the ball all the time. You want Mohamed Salah to be scoring all the goals like he did before.
"Liverpool still need someone to emulate what we had with Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz and you probably want someone up front who’s going to give you sort of the balance that Roberto Firmino brought having two goalscorers either side of him.
"Slot is building something totally different and it's never going to look the same but now Liverpool have got Hugo Ekitike up front and I think he's done fantastic."
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Heskey scored 60 goals in 223 appearances for the Reds between 2000 and 2004, during which time he formed a successful partnership with Michael Owen for club and country and would often use his physical advantages to get on the end of crosses from wide players.
Asked whether he would like to play with a winger such as Salah, he added: "I remember someone asking me a few years back, would you have liked to play with Mohamed Salah? I said probably not.
"I'd probably prefer to play with Trent (Alexander-Arnold) because I know he's going to cross the ball for me. Mo's not going to cross. Mo wants to score goals. We’ve gone from wingers who want to provide to wingers who want to score goals."
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