Liverpool manager Arne Slot opened himself up to the possibility that Trent Alexander-Arnold’s summer exit is partly to blame for Mohamed Salah’s notable dip in form this season.
After finishing all eight of his seasons at Anfield as the team’s top scorer, Salah’s status as the club’s undisputed talisman has come under fire in recent weeks. Dropped to the bench for each of Liverpool’s last two Champions League fixtures, the 33-year-old has only been able to muster three goals across all competitions, half as many as summer recruit Hugo Ekitiké.
Salah heads into Saturday’s trip to Brentford without a non-penalty goal in any of his previous seven Premier League appearances, the worst run of form throughout his Liverpool career, per Opta.
The winger has been openly targeted by opponents who know he won’t track back and are now less fearful of being punished in transition.
When it was put to Slot that Salah was suffering in the absence of the rich supply line provided by Alexander-Arnold, who left Liverpool for Real Madrid in June, the Dutch boss tentatively agreed.
“Maybe his whole Liverpool [career] he played with Trent, so it could [be that],” he accepted at Friday’s press conference. “But he’s been in promising positions often enough to score goals, maybe with Trent even more. But in general, if you have quite a few changes in the summer you have to find new connections. Mo is no exception to this.”
Every meaningful attacking statistic Salah is posting represents a decline compared to last season.
Salah’s Worrying Statistics
Stats provided by Opta. Correct as of Oct. 24, 2025.
Alexander-Arnold played 147 line-breaking passes to Salah in last season’s Premier League, a swollen tally which outstripped every other combination between two players in England’s top flight. Without the creatively adept England international behind him, Salah has struggled to strike up a rapport with any of the revolving churn of right backs to have lined up for Liverpool this term.
For all his obvious difficulties, Slot still has the utmost faith in Salah. “The way he trains, and when we do finishing drills, you cannot lose that,” Liverpool’s head coach insisted. “The only thing is we have to keep bringing him into those positions and he has to bring himself into those positions.
“There are a lot of things that can happen when you get older. But if I can select one player who has the ball 12, 13 yards from goal and he should score that to save my life, I would have Mo in that position. Now he needs to show that he can get into those positions.”
How Salah Reacted to Champions League Snub
Salah had gone four years without being dropped to the bench for a Champions League match. Now he has found himself among the substitutes for Liverpool’s last two European outings.
After limply losing to Galatasaray at the end of September, a new-look Liverpool frontline with Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz flanking an Ekitiké-Alexander Isak double act romped to a 5–1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.
Slot revealed that Salah wasn’t content with missing out on the starting XI, but framed this as a positive. “I hope he is not ever going to take it well, because the moment you are going to take it well then you miss the fire,” the Dutch boss argued.
“That goes for every player, by the way. Not only Mo. The moment you start to accept that you are not playing any more and you are fine with that, then you miss the fire that is needed to play at this level.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Arne Slot Offers Explanation Behind Mohamed Salah’s Unprecedented Liverpool Form.