Arne Slot has admitted feeling unease at dropping Mohamed Salah after the striker’s eight phenomenal seasons at Liverpool, and said he wants him “doing something special” on the pitch rather than sitting miserably on the bench.
Omitting Salah was Slot’s big call at West Ham on Sunday when the Liverpool head coach found a solution to the Premier League champions’ dismal run of results. The Egypt international, who will depart for the Africa Cup of Nations on December 15th, has struggled to hit his customary heights this season and is not guaranteed to return against Sunderland at Anfield on Wednesday.
Slot insists West Ham did not mark the start of Liverpool’s transition to a post-Salah era because the 33-year-old has been “outstanding for this club for so many years and will be for us in the future”. But he conceded it was difficult for everyone connected with Liverpool to see Salah lose his starting place.
“It is not a nice thing for him, not for a Liverpool fan and not for me,” Slot said. “A player that has been so important for us, you want to see him on the pitch. 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 Africa Cup of Nations.”
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Slot said Salah was not happy at being dropped but had been supportive of his team-mates on Sunday and in training on Monday. “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 you are in this building and when we are playing,” he said. “That’s exactly the attitude he showed on Sunday and yesterday as well.”
Dominik Szoboszlai took Salah’s place at West Ham, but Slot, who has been linked with a January move for Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, confirmed the Hungary captain was not a permanent replacement for Salah.
“I don’t see Dominik as a right winger for the long-term future in this club,” he said. “Dominik is a midfielder who could help us out as a full-back or as a winger if needed. I don’t expect to be in February or March and every single game Dominik is playing there. But I don’t know yet at this moment.
“He’s more of a midfielder than a winger, but the good thing about him is he can help me and us out in several positions if I need him in that position. In the long-term future, we should have wingers playing as wingers, midfielders playing as midfielders and defenders playing as defenders.”
Conor Bradley resumed some team training on Monday, having missed Liverpool’s past three games with a muscle injury. The right back could be involved at Leeds on Saturday. – Guardian
