There will be, I imagine, more than a few people that have moved from doubters to believers around Arne Slot since yesterday. It was, of course, the former manager who first uttered that expression, but many Liverpool supporters will have been feeling it over his successor, such was the extent to which we didn’t know a huge amount about the Dutchman before he arrived at the AXA Training Centre. It always needs to be pointed out that we have not had the toughest start to the season. Ipswich Town were newly promoted, Brentford haven’t won at Anfield in the Premier League era and Manchester United remain an absolute mess under Erik Ten Hag. Better Liverpool teams than this one have gone to Old Trafford and lost, however, so what we achieved yesterday shouldn’t be understated. It isn’t just the scoreline that was impressive but also the manner in which we held them at arm’s length pretty much throughout the game. Although the xG post-match suggested the Red Devils were in it, the truth is that those chances only really came once it had gone 3-0.
Three wins, three clean sheets. The third shutout came in game 10 last season, game nine the year before.
Twelve goal contributions from the front three and little of note allowed in open play this season until they went three up today.
Yes, Arne. Yes.
Up the Reds. pic.twitter.com/VCZbOXfYvy
— Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) September 1, 2024
There will be much sterner tests to come. Slot himself pointed out that the arrival of the Champions League will make things much more difficult for Liverpool and the post-international break period sees us play seven games in 21 days. The RB Leipzig match comes in between a home game against Chelsea and away trip to Arsenal. The visit of Real Madrid is sandwiched between a trip to Southampton and the arrival of Manchester City to Anfield. No one is covering the Dutchman in roses just yet. What we can see, though, is a clear style of play that is there after just three games whilst his countryman and counterpart at Old Trafford hasn’t managed to instil one by the start of his third season. Following Jürgen Klopp was seen by many as being the impossible job, but Slot has shown the bravery to come in and do things his own way. His analytical nature reminds me of Rafa Benítez more than Jürgen, being pragmatic in his approach to life in the Premier League thus far. It’s been the perfect start to his Liverpool career. Long may that continue.
Salah is the Top of the Kops
Mohamed Salah wasn’t particularly fancied when he arrived at Anfield. We will all remember well the time that Mina Rzouki, speaking to the BBC, said, “I’m not convinced of his footballing IQ…For me, he is a flying [Juan] Cuadrado”. We can all make mistakes, of course, and if our opinions were shared by the national broadcaster then I’m sure most of us would look a bit foolish from time to time, but it is indicative of the general mood around Salah’s signing. Having failed to see his career take off at Chelsea, Salah moved to Italy and built himself up, learning his game before returning to the Premier League and absolutely ripping it apart. Many said he would be a one season wonder, but the Egyptian has proved to be anything but and has adapted his game year on year to the point that opposition defenders still don’t know quite how to handle him. Imagine how dangerous he would be if he got free-kicks every time someone wrestled him to the ground. I guess we can’t have everything, so we’ll just take the goal-scoring machine.
Mohamed Salah has scored in his last seven games at Old Trafford 🎯 pic.twitter.com/rsyhsRjwwj
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 1, 2024
The fact that he basically owns Old Trafford isn’t something to be sniffed at either. The Egyptian has scored more goals at Manchester United’s home ground than some of the club’s own attacking players, such is his dominance over the Red Devils. We saw another masterclass from him yesterday, getting two assists for Luis Diaz and getting himself on the scoresheet. In fact, the only complaint I have is that he should’ve scored more, getting another chance in the immediate aftermath of his actual goal. We are privileged to be watching him play football for us on a weekly basis, putting in performances on a regular basis that most attacking players would be delighted to produce one or two teams a season. I never really got to see the likes of Kenny Dalglish play and he will always be considered the best the club has ever had because of everything he did during his time on Merseyside, but Mo Salah is rivalling him for the title of best player we’ve ever had. Ian Rush scored more goals, but Salah’s overall performance is unrivalled.
Why Hasn’t he Been Offered a New Contract?
The obvious question that gets asked during any discussion about Mo Salah at the moment is ‘why hasn’t he been offered a new contract?’ The answer, I fear, is a complicated one. Those in charge of Liverpool will have all sort of data that the rest of us aren’t privy to. They will know exactly how his body is performing in comparison to previous seasons and they will no doubt have been spooked by the injury that he suffered whilst playing for Egypt last year. Having seen Cristiano Ronaldo’s performances for Man United when he went back there, the higher-ups at Anfield will be scared of putting themselves in a similar situation with the Egyptian. That being said, the ever-reliable Andrew Beasley wrote about him recently and made the point that he is as strong as he was in the 2017-2018 season in pretty much every metric aside from dribbling. Liverpool couldn’t have much more of a sure thing on their hands than they do with Salah.
Salah at 32 years old. pic.twitter.com/Gk0L27VFbe
— The Tactical Times (@Tactical_Times) September 2, 2024
I am hoping that Liverpool’s hierarchy knew that Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold will all renew, so they just wanted to get the summer out of the way before looking at the three contracts and getting them sorted. Perhaps that’s naive of me, but I can see no other reason as to why the three players haven’t already been given new contracts to sign. If the higher-ups wanted to weigh up where they’re at in terms of their performance levels then the opening games of the season should’ve done enough to set their minds at ease. If it was about figuring out how Arne Slot would work with them, we should all be pretty pleased about that, too. Mo Salah is still one of the best forwards in the Premier League, going toe-to-toe with 115 Charges FC’s cyborg attacker in terms of Fantasy Football points. Turning down a chance to keep him at Anfield for at least one more season before reassessing feels like a no brainer. I know they will want to be future-proofing, but the arrival of Federico Chiesa does that enough to mean Salah should have a contract put in front of him within days.
