Why Mohamed Salah Was Benched for Second Liverpool Game in a Row
Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed Mohamed Salah was named on the bench for Wednesday’s 1–1 draw with Sunderland to try and improve the team’s defence.
Salah was “unhappy” to be left unused on the bench during the weekend victory over West Ham United, and the Egyptian was forced to accept another start on the bench on Wednesday, although he did make it on for the second half of the draw.
The idea of Salah being benched had been suggested by frustrated Liverpool fans well before last weekend, with the 33-year-old’s limited defensive output not sustainable during the team’s miserable run of form, and Slot confirmed that was the reason for his latest decision to keep Salah on the bench.
Sign Up to Get Informed With SI FC. dark. FREE NEWSLETTER. New SI FC Newsletter Global Embed
“In the first half, we played with [Dominik] Szoboszlai off the right to be defensively strong enough not to concede enough as we did in the last few weeks,” Slot reflected.
The Reds boss was then asked whether he planned to use Salah more in the coming weeks because of his impending departure to the Africa Cup of Nations—clubs must release players no later than Dec. 15—or if he would continue to pick the best team for a specific opponent.
“That’s always the situation,” Slot stressed. “It has nothing to do with Mo or anyone.”
Slot: Gakpo Struggled to Create in First Half
Salah’s introduction to the game came at the expense of Dutch international Cody Gakpo, who attempted just one unsuccessful dribble during the first half before being hooked at the break.
“In my opinion, Cody struggled to dominate the one-v-ones,” Slot explained. “If you want to have any chance against ... like I said, they were pressing high but also in multiple situations they were in a low block, [so] the way to score is quite simple: you need a moment of magic from a player or you need a set-piece to score.
“I felt in the first half Cody struggled to find that moment because it was hard for him to dominate the one-v-one or get crosses in.
“I changed it to Mo on the right side and then played with Florian Wirtz off the left. Like I said, we hardly conceded, but it was throughout the whole game difficult to create that moment of magic. From the set-pieces we had, we were once close—I think it was Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] in the first half who hit the post from a set-piece—but we had enough, especially in the end of the second half, but didn’t score.”
The result leaves Liverpool eighth in the Premier League standings, 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal. They face a tricky trip to Elland Road on Saturday to face a Leeds United side riding the wave of a huge 3–1 victory over Chelsea on Wednesday.
READ THE LATEST LIVERPOOL NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS AND MORE
feed