Mohamed Salah Selection Call Confirmed As Liverpool Name Team
Mohamed Salah was named on the Liverpool substitutes bench for the fourth Premier League game in a row despite patching things up with manager Arne Slot.
Salah surprisingly took aim at the club and his manager after having a watching brief for the entirety of Liverpool’s 3–3 draw with Leeds United last Saturday, and was subsequently left out of the squad for the midweek win over Inter Milan in the Champions League.
After Slot confirmed he’d have showdown talks with Salah on Friday, in an attempt to clear the air between the two, it was revealed that the Egyptian would return to the matchday squad at least for the visit of Brighton & Hove Albion to Anfield.
But when the teams were announced around an hour and a quarter before kick-off, Salah was again among the nine substitutes—alongside £125 million British transfer record signing Alexander Isak, who has endured a surprisingly slow start to life at Anfield.
Liverpool’s Starting Lineup to Face Brighton
- GK: Alisson Becker
- RB: Joe Gomez
- CB: Ibrahima Konaté
- CB: Virgil van Dijk (c)
- LB: Milos Kerkez
- CM: Ryan Gravenberch
- CM: Alexis Mac Allister
- CM: Curtis Jones
- RW: Dominik Szoboszlai
- ST: Hugo Ekitiké
- LW: Florian Wirtz
Slot Changes Formation After Midweek Tinkering
Salah’s omission will spark further conversation about his Liverpool future. The 33-year-old suggested in his explosive comments last weekend that he and Slot no longer had any kind of working relationship, and that he couldn’t understand why he was being overlooked after everything he’s done for the club.
In a general swipe at Liverpool, Salah suggested he’d been “thrown under the bus” and make a scapegoat following a surprise run of dismal results.
Against Inter Milan, with Salah not involved at all, Slot opted to change the long-employed 4-3-3 formation at Anfield, deploying a narrow diamond midfield that allowed Isak and Hugo Ekitiké to start up front together. But it was another tough night for the Swede, whose only Premier League goal for Liverpool came in the recent 2–0 win at West Ham United.
For Brighton’s trip to Merseyside, Florian Wirtz was recalled to the starting XI in place of Isak, likely as an inside left forward operating on the opposite flank to the versatile Dominik Szoboszlai—the Hungarian, the match winner against Inter and scorer of Liverpool’s third goal against Leeds, tasked with taking on Salah’s responsibilities.
Slot also restored another summer signing, Milos Kerkez, to the team, in place of the long-serving Andy Robertson.
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