During the Reds’ big Champions League win against Eintracht Frankfurt, Mohamed Salah passed the ball to Florian Wirtz and missed a great chance to assist the German’s first goal for Liverpool. The £116m summer recruit was playing in his homeland as Liverpool enjoyed a huge win. Manager Arne Slott decided to start Salah on the bench and bring him on midway through the second half.
Wirtz started this game and recorded two assists, playing a key role in establishing Liverpool’s commanding lead. When Salah came on, he was keen to make his mark and found himself in a perfect position to fire a shot at goal from the right flank. He could have easily passed the ball to Wirtz, who was just eight yards out, but the Egyptian opted to take the shot himself. After goalkeeper Michael Zetterer saved his shot, Wirths clearly expressed frustration with his teammate’s decision.
Salah is far from his prolific performance last season. Now 33 years old and having recently signed a new contract, the forward needs to prove he can still perform at the highest level. He has scored just three times in all competitions and hasn’t scored since mid-September.
With his place in the starting eleven no longer guaranteed, the Egyptian was clearly keen to make his mark and break his thirst for goals, but he was unable to do so.
Meanwhile, Wiltz’s two assists against Frankfurt should help silence his critics, but his limited impact in the final third has put him under scrutiny.
After the match, the player gave an interview to DAZN and said, “This is the first time I’ve given an interview so quickly after a match.If I remember correctly, we were losing 1-0, but we were able to come back and turn the game around.In the first half, I struggled to get myself into a good space.”
“And it was unfortunate that we lost the ball before we conceded, but overall we were fine. We tried to get into better spaces in the second half. I know I can do a lot more.”
“I thought we did really well in the second half, and so did the other players. So I’m happy that we won today and that we were finally able to get involved in the goal.”
