The Egyptian superstar was not in Arne Slott’s squad for the game against West Ham and could well end up on the bench for an extended period.
Jamie Carragher has suggested he will only hear from Mohamed Salah “if he wins man of the match or if he needs a new contract”. And with neither being a factor at the moment, Salah is unlikely to be in court any time soon.
But we can also assume that he doesn’t like being left on the bench, and that he feels some of the criticism of his performance this season has gone too far. On the latter point, he would be right.
Salah has not had great performances this season, but he is not the only player at Liverpool who falls into that category. He is the norm, not the exception.
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What says a lot about Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak’s struggles is that their performance against West Ham was generally seen as their best since joining Liverpool. He had a good performance against West Ham, but it wasn’t sensational. They were setting a low bar.
Salah was Liverpool’s biggest threat in their last home game, a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, but he has been relatively underwhelming. But it was a lackluster display against PSV Eindhoven – a 4-1 rout that saw the Dutch side refuse to backtrack before their second goal – that forced coach Arne Slott into action.
Although the team’s effort at the London Stadium improved and the line-up looked as balanced as ever, it is unlikely that Salah will return to the starting XI against Sunderland at Anfield. But Slott’s claim that Salah “is a very special player and will have a very good future at this club” is spot on, the kind of thing a Liverpool manager would have to say.
The bottom line is that Salah is finally looking like a 33-year-old player who needs a break. Not just a respite from the hard work of this season, but a respite from the hard work of a very solid career.
He didn’t need to rest after making 18 appearances for the club this season, but he did need a rest after eight full seasons and 419 appearances for the club, spanning about a third of this season. Salah deserved a gold medal for Liverpool not only because of his goals and assists, but also because of his performance.
He is a man with 109 caps for the Egyptian national team. And that means Salah, who will be 34 until June next year, will have played almost 800 games for club and country.
Between club and country, he missed just 38 games due to injury or illness, three of which were due to coronavirus. This is an amazing record and with a heavy workload, it doesn’t hurt to take a break.
It will be interesting to see how Salah performs in the second half of Liverpool’s season once he returns from international duty at the African Cup of Nations. The possibility of them defending their Premier League title is not over yet, but it is unlikely. One of Slott’s few regrets last season was not being able to rotate his squad enough before losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in March.
Salah’s most important stage this season could yet be in Europe. But wherever it is, Salah will be back in the spotlight, that’s for sure. He’s still too good not to be.
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