Arne Slot took a significant stride toward preservation as Liverpool's head coach on Saturday evening, watching his side defeat Crystal Palace under a baking sun to make it three successive wins in the Premier League.
The star of the show? Freddie Woodman, third-choice goalkeeper who has been drafted in following the injury to Giorgi Mamardashvili last weekend. Alisson Becker is also sidelined.
Woodman was spectacular, channelling his inner Nat Phillips to come up trumps for an injury-hit Liverpool team. However, fitness blows have wreaked havoc on the Reds' campaign, and the outgoing Mohamed Salah is the latest to fall into the infirmary.
The latest on Mohamed Salah's injury
One month ago, Salah announced that he would be calling time on his historic Liverpool career this summer, having plummeted from the level we have all come to know and love over the past nine years.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah
It's a difficult one to stomach, but Salah is no longer the sharp and unstoppable attacking force that he once was. 33 years old, it will be a struggle for him to recover that level in Slot's team.
However, he was forced off with a hamstring injury against Palace, and with only one month of the campaign remaining, this is a worry for the Merseysiders, who would love nothing more than to say goodbye to their iconic star when the campaign culminates at Anfield against Brentford.
There will be an anxious wait on Merseyside for the prognosis on Salah's suspected hamstring injury. Could the Egyptian King have just bitterly drawn the curtain on his legendary career at the club?
Season (* PL Title) Apps Goals + Assists
25/26 25 7 + 6
24/25* 38 29 + 18
23/24 32 18 + 10
22/23 38 19 + 12
21/22 35 23 + 13
20/21 37 22 + 5
19/20* 34 19 + 10
18/19 38 22 + 8
17/18 36 32 + 11
Replacing him will indeed be an impossible task - though reports suggest that Yan Diomande is the leading contender to perform on Liverpool's right wing next season - but Liverpool may have already signed their new version of Salah.
Liverpool have found their new Mohamed Salah
Barring another plummet in form, Liverpool will play their European football in the Champions League next season, but Salah will not be joining them.
However, Alexander Isak will be expected to kick on and rise to the world-class level we saw so many times at Newcastle United. Liverpool signed the 26-year-old last season for a British-record £125m fee,
Injuries have ruined his maiden campaign on Merseyside, but Isak has also struggled for form when playing at the front of Slot's system, with his strike against Palace only his fourth since arriving last year.
However, it was an excellent goal, expertly controlled after Alexis Mac Allister tamely struck at goal. If Isak stays fit and develops his instinctiveness in the final third, he will surely score dozens of goals across the 2026/27 season, when Liverpool will be expected to challenge for the biggest prizes once again.
In that, he could finally emerge as the new Salah, who spearheaded Liverpool's Premier League triumph last season in Slot's first year.
There's no question that Isak has lacked much of the presence that defined his time at St. James' Park, and though he still wasn't 100% against Oliver Glasner's side, there's a sense that a mental barrier might have been broken here for someone who was described as "the best striker in the Premier League" by Jamie Carragher last year.
For Newcastle, he scored 62 goals and provided 11 assists across 109 matches. If he can now return to that standard, the pain of Salah's departure will be eased as a world-class centre-forward emerges.
Liverpool striker Alexander Isak-1
Liverpool have not been at the races this season, and if they can handle the Salah succession well, they might just return to their former heights next season.
After all, Isak has yet to show his full quality, but we got a little glimpse in a commanding striker's display against the Eagles.
Former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane Related
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Liverpool are planning for another big summer rebuild.