Slot has said of Salah enduring an apparent dip in the remarkable standards that have been set across nine years on Merseyside: “He set his own standards and they are so, so, so high the moment he doesn't score for a few games, people are surprised, so that is the big compliment. If you use the FA Cup, even though it is a Premier League side [he scored against]. Three games ago he had an assist and a goal against a Premier League side, Brighton, a very good Premier League team, so that is the reality. You can change data and say it's no goal in nine PL games and that is the standard he set.”
Slot added on Salah’s performances, with Dutch winger Gakpo going seven games without a goal and French frontman Ekitike failing to trouble the scorers in his last four appearances: “I think I should go really detailed into performances and this is not the time and place to do it here.
“Mo we are used to scoring goals. We also know, even in my time, it has happened, I've had questions about Mo not scoring for three or four games but he always scores again. He is not our only attacker who doesn't score as much as he was used to. It is not that the focus should be all on him, Hugo and Cody haven't either, so it is a team thing. But we keep clean sheets, so they don't need to score as many. We scored six versus Qarabag and four against Newcastle.”