Liverpool: Salah or Isak out? Arne Slot, at the crossroads.

Arne Slot Facing a Dilemma at Liverpool: Salah or Isak

Liverpool’s coach, Arne Slot, faces a crucial decision. He must choose between relegating his most outstanding player, Mohamed Salah, or Alexander Isak, the club’s record signing who arrived this summer. Both Salah and Isak are world-renowned forwards, but their current performance does not justify their place in the starting lineup. The lack of form of both players is due in part to their individual performance, but also to the changes in Liverpool’s squad during the summer. Seven key players arrived for a sum close to 450 million pounds, while another seven left, including Darwin Núñez and Luis Díaz. In addition, the tragic loss of Diogo Jota has affected the team’s performance in all its lines. Slot also has other important problems to solve, such as making the most of attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, who has yet to register goals or assists in his eight appearances since his arrival. The left-back position is also a problem, as Milos Kerkez has not managed to justify his £40 million signing as Andy Robertson’s successor. Furthermore, the inconsistent performance of center-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté in the defeat against Manchester United highlighted why Liverpool should have signed Marc Guéhi earlier. However, the biggest problem for Slot is the situation of Salah and Isak. When two seemingly undisputed players don’t deserve their place in the team, their presence suggests that the coach doesn’t dare to make a decision that would have repercussions beyond the locker room.

The Champions League match against Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany offers Slot an opportunity to make changes. He could take Salah and Isak out of the team and justify it with the need for rotation. The group stage of the competition allows Liverpool a defeat without serious consequences in the long term, although a fifth consecutive defeat would be unprecedented since September 1953. Slot could also bring Hugo Ekitike back to the team, allowing the French international to play against his former club just three months after his transfer to Liverpool for £69 million. However, rotating his players for a Champions League match would only delay the inevitable. The true test of the coach’s ability to do without his stars will come when Liverpool faces matches of the magnitude of the match against Real Madrid or the Premier League match against Manchester City. Ekitike has been Liverpool’s most productive forward this season, with five goals and one assist in 11 matches, but he hasn’t started in the last three league games, all of which were losses. A suspension prevented him from playing the first match of that series, against Crystal Palace, but Slot hasn’t reincorporated him into the team since then, preferring Isak and Salah. Isak has played seven matches since his arrival, but has not managed to match Ekitike’s impact, with only one goal and one assist. Salah, for his part, has scored three goals and given three assists in 11 matches. Salah’s lack of defensive contribution has also exposed Liverpool’s right-back in several matches.

Nobody worked harder for Liverpool than Nunez and Diaz, while Jota offered pressure in the final third. Without them, only Cody Gakpo is offering the work that made Liverpool’s attack so successful last season, and the lack of work from Salah and Isak is becoming as big a problem as their lack of goals.

If the two players had scored at the expected rate this season, their careers and lack of pressure would not have been a problem. But the lack of goals and work ethic combined have turned Isak and Salah into a headache for Slot. Perhaps Slot is trying to get both forwards in shape, but his presence in the team is hurting the team, especially when his selection leads to Ekitike being benched. On Sunday, Slot used the old tactic of complaining about United’s “low block and long balls” to divert attention from his team selection, but the problem of Isak and Salah will not disappear. Solving it is not simply taking them out of the team and hoping their replacements do a better job, because Slot also needs his team’s mechanics to work much better. Neither Isak nor Salah are doing enough to deserve a starting position at Liverpool. Leaving one, or both, out could be the boost the whole team needs.