Arne Slot has admitted dropping Mo Salah was one of the hardest decisions he has faced as it put the Liverpool legend under undue scrutiny.
Though there had been widespread acknowledgement that Salah’s form had been disappointing, it still came as a big call for Slot to make at West Ham given the Egyptian has effectively spent the last eight years as the first name on Liverpool’s teamsheet.
Slot is wrestling with the idea of putting Salah back into the starting line-up for Wednesday night’s clash with Sunderland, as he only has him for four more games before FIFA have stipulated he must join up with Egypt’s squad for the AFCON on December 15.
Events at The London Stadium, though, gave a glimpse into the future. It is going to be a challenge for Slot to manage Salah’s minutes effectively and the head coach had sympathy for the predicament he put the 33-year-old in.
‘It is not a nice thing for you, not for a Liverpool fan and not for me, a player that has been so important for us,’ said Slot. ‘I prefer to see Mo on the pitch, scoring his goals and doing something special, rather than the camera being on him when he isn’t in the game.
‘He has been so important for us, for so many years, and he will be important for us in the coming days – because it is days as he goes to the African Cup The reaction of every player in this group, no matter whether he’s playing or not playing, is to bring the best out of yourself every single day.
‘That’s exactly the attitude he showed on Sunday and (Monday) yesterday as well.’
Salah has never been one to take not starting or being substituted well but the reason his failure to start against West Ham caused such a commotion is easily explained in these numbers – Liverpool have played 317 Premier League games since 2017 and he failed to start 34 of them.
A significant number of those 34 were through AFCON commitments but when you break it down further, he has only completely missed 17 of the 317. It shows why Slot gave such consideration before opting to go with Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo at the London Stadium.
When asked if Salah was disappointed, Slot replied: ‘That is a fair assumption and a normal reaction from a player that is good enough to play for us, and I say it mildly because he has been so outstanding for this club for so many years and will be for us in the future.
‘Of course, a player is not happy he isn’t playing. He was not the only one who wasn’t happy he wasn’t starting, I can tell you – and that’s normal. But the way he behaved is what you would expect from the professional he is. He was very supportive for his teammates, handled himself really well.’
