For the best part of a decade, Liverpool’s right flank has been inhabited by Mo Salah. In that time, the curly-haired Egyptian, with a wand of a left foot, has been the attacking heartbeat and the conductor of the orchestra that the Anfield faithful have merrily swooned to.
Dribbling past a maze of defenders, fashioning fleet-footed runs into the 18-yard box, unleashing unstoppable thunderbolts into the back of the net… he has done it all over 400-plus appearances for the club. It has elevated the 33-year-old to the very top of the pantheon of legends to have played for the Merseyside giant.
The numbers reflect his greatness. In 301 Premier League appearances for the club, he has racked up 188 goals and 89 assists. Having also scored two for Chelsea in his first stint in England, his overall tally of 190 goals is the most by a foreigner in Premier League history, six more than Sergio Aguero.
These individual feats have translated into two league titles and one Champions League crown in his nine seasons, rekindling Liverpool’s glory days after a long barren stretch.
Brewing trouble
Therefore, when Liverpool’s right flank was conspicuous by his absence in the 2-0 win against West Ham United on Sunday — Salah was stationed on the bench throughout — it was enough to set tongues wagging. Is it the beginning of the end for the two-time African Footballer of the Year?
Since the onset of the 2024-25 season, when Arne Slot took over the managerial reins from Jurgen Klopp, it was the first time that Salah had been dropped from the starting XI for a Premier League fixture. The winger didn’t start Wednesday’s game against Sunderland either, though he did play a part as a second-half substitute in the 1-1 draw.
At a time when Liverpool had slumped to nine defeats in 12 games across all competitions, Slot’s move was telling. The Dutchman may have downplayed the significance afterwards by stating that Salah still had a future at the club, but by dropping his best player, he appeared to be implying that he was willing to look beyond reputations and take desperate measures for desperate times.
Slip up: Salah’s dip in form has forced Slot to bench the Egyptian maestro.
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And these are desperate times. Having lost six and drawn one of its 14 Premier League matches, Liverpool is ninth, sandwiched in the mid-table cluster and in danger of making a complete hash of its title defence. In the Champions League, it was pummelled 4-1 by PSV Eindhoven at Anfield just last week.
Salah’s dwindling output has merited concern for some time. In the Premier League, he was averaging 135 minutes per goal in his previous eight seasons. That has more than doubled to 280 minutes in this campaign. It has prompted former Liverpool defender and prominent television pundit Jamie Carragher to proclaim that “Salah’s legs have gone”.
More than one hole
In fairness, Salah is only a part of the problem. On the back of a summer transfer window where Liverpool splurged a record £446 million, including £125m on Alexander Isak from Newcastle United and £100m on Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, the inability of the new signings to swiftly hit the ground running has been glaring.
In Isak’s case, the protracted transfer saga, owing to Newcastle’s steadfast desire to drag negotiations till deadline day, resulted in him missing a major chunk of pre-season.
It has contributed to a sluggish start at his new club, with the forward failing to score in his first five Premier League appearances. Though Isak finally broke his duck at the weekend with a sweet strike into the bottom left-corner, it was followed by another muted display against Sunderland.
For Wirtz, 22, the adjustment from the Bundesliga’s possession-based style to the frenetic rhythm of the Premier League is taking time. There were encouraging signs in the win against West Ham, as indeed in the stalemate versus Sunderland where it was his attempt that led to an own goal for the equaliser. But the enormity of the transfer fee will weigh on the young German if goals and assists don’t arrive soon.
Dodgy defence
Amid the influx of fresh faces, it is ironically the one signing the club missed sealing — Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi — that may have the biggest impact on Liverpool’s season. The interest in the English centre-back till the end of the transfer window suggests that the 20-time English champion was acutely aware of the importance of bolstering the defence.
Having failed to close out the deal, Virgil van Dijk, who has carried this team on his shoulders along with Salah for the past few years, has had it all to do at the back. And after the 1-4 loss to PSV, where his hand ball to concede a penalty for the Dutch side’s opener precipitated the downfall, he was condemned to face the wrath of the fans.
Waning powers: van Dijk and Salah, who have carried Liverpool’s burden for long, seem to finally feel the weight of expectations.
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As startling as the 34-year-old’s dip in form is, he hasn’t been aided one bit by the lack of support from the rest of the backline. Much of the blame ought to go to 26-year-old Ibrahima Konate, whose shabby defending has been responsible for a fair chunk of the 21 goals conceded in the Premier League.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold fulfilling his dream move to Real Madrid during the summer and Andy Robertson no longer being a regular starter, the full-back positions have also been hampered by instability. The absence of Alexander-Arnold’s penetrative through balls from right-back has also diminished Liverpool’s attacking threat.
If the season continues to unravel, the jury will be out on Slot’s capabilities as well. The 47-year-old may have exceeded all expectations by winning the title in his first season, but was he just reaping the benefits of overseeing a team that had Klopp’s imprint?
The ability to press opponents relentlessly, which was inculcated by the German manager, hasn’t been replicated with the same intensity this season.
A grieving team
While the on-field troubles are in plain sight, harder to detect is the lingering impact of Diogo Jota’s death on his teammates. Robertson, for example, said after Scotland qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, in November, that he had been “in bits” thinking about the late Portuguese forward, given the pair’s common dream of featuring in the marquee spectacle.
In reaction to the left-back’s outpouring of grief, Slot acknowledged the challenge of overcoming Jota’s loss, but maintained that he wouldn’t use it as an excuse for his team’s form.
“It is good for us to remember him at all times. It is possible because of the person and player he was. It is impossible to measure what it does to the players and to our results. The last thing I would do is use it as an excuse,” he said.
It puts into perspective the range of issues at Liverpool’s doorstep right now. Will Slot find a way out of the mess? Or will he be left to walk alone? The next few weeks will lay bare the reality.
Published – December 05, 2025 11:54 pm IST
