Mohamed Salah didn’t make the starting lineup against PSG, and that’s one Arne Slot decision you can’t take too much issue with.
Liverpool’s 2-0 loss to PSG didn’t give us too much reason to be optimistic for the second leg next week, and there were plenty of opportunities to criticise the manager. Steven Gerrard questioned Slot’s tactics, and the discourse today has been overwhelmingly negative.
But for all the criticism, he did make the right call in leaving a certain superstar on the bench. Salah’s Liverpool farewell tour might be underway, but Slot’s reasons for dropping him against the European champions is hard to argue with.
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Arne Slot justified his Mo Salah decision after PSG
After the game, Slot would have been expecting the Egyptian’s absence to be brought up swiftly.
During his post-match press conference, he went into more detail about the decision.
He began: “I think anyone who understands football knows that you don’t go straight to a player after the game, especially if you didn’t bring him on, and start talking to him.
“But I don’t think the reason for not bringing him on was that complicated. We barely had the ball, so we were defending almost the entire time.
Mohamed Salah pictured with the ball during the warm up ahead of Liverpool's UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes
Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP via Getty Images
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“And I think when you have a lot of possession, Mohamed Salah is more than capable of creating chances and scoring goals. But if you’re constantly defending and have to cover about 80 metres just to reach the opponent’s goal, I’m not sure that’s the best moment to use his energy.”
Salah hasn’t been much of a defender for Liverpool under Slot. That was fine when he was smashing records at the other end of the pitch, but he hasn’t done much to inspire confidence in the final third this season.
An away game at such a difficult ground requires an intensity and an effort that Salah hasn’t shown enough this season, so I’m on the manager’s side here.
Slot isn’t saying the 33-year-old is out of the picture now, but rather he wants to use him at the most opportune times.
He explained: “We play again on Saturday, and I hope that next week at Anfield we can play much further away from our own goal. So let’s see how many minutes he gets in that match.”
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Jeremie Frimpong takes throw-in for Liverpool in front of Arne Slot
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We know the kind of temperament Salah has. He will be livid not to have featured in such a big game.
That mentality is a huge reason for the success he has had at Liverpool, but if he can’t perform consistently, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on — sentimentality goes out the window at this stage of the season.
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