It takes a brave and assured manager to substitute Mohamed Salah, especially as early as Arne Slot did in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over RB Leipzig.
The definition of ‘aura’ has been lost in modern football.
Now, it is a term used when a player wears his collar up or when, after a run of more than two clean sheets, Arsenal fans try to will it into existence.
There are, of course, still players with a genuine aura and that is certainly the case when it comes to the current Liverpool squad.
Slot has learned that in his experience of working with Virgil van Dijk, telling Viaplay earlier in October that:
“Before I worked with Virgil, I always said I no longer believe so much in the concept of a leader.
[…]
“But Virgil, I think, is someone who constantly makes sure the boys are there and is the leader in coaching.”
Like Van Dijk, Salah is a player who genuinely intimidates his opponents – for example, take Arsenal left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who once recalled a running battle that left him feeling “finished.”
That is the definition of aura, and Salah has backed that up over seven free-scoring seasons at Anfield before this.
For a head coach with a lack of elite-level experience, following in the footsteps of one of the most legendary managers at one of the biggest clubs in the world, that aura could be tricky to deal with.
But as he takes to life at Liverpool with smooth precision and clinical execution, Slot has shown no signs of such an issue.
Wednesday night’s 1-0 win at Leipzig gave further evidence of this, with Salah the first player withdrawn, exiting the field after just 63 minutes with the result ostensibly still in the balance.
Salah responded as expected, with the No. 11 clearly frustrated at being substituted so early into a Champions League tie.
Salah simply doesn’t want to be subbed
There was no clash with his head coach, though, with handshakes shared with replacement Luis Diaz, Slot and his assistants Fabian Otte and Sipke Hulshoff; there was no smile as he exited the pitch, but that is simply the player Salah is.
Contrast that to six months earlier, when Salah was seen furiously berating Jurgen Klopp on the touchline as he waited to come on with 11 minutes to play in a 2-2 draw at West Ham.
Held back by Darwin Nunez of all players, the winger made his feelings clear on the situation, given so little time to influence a result which left Liverpool’s title challenge over.
It wasn’t even the first flashpoint between Salah and Klopp in his final season in charge.
The 32-year-old threw his wrist-tape onto the turf and refused to acknowledge the manager when he was substituted for Ben Doak after 77 minutes of the 1-1 draw at Chelsea that kicked off the 2023/24 campaign.
Explaining that incident, Klopp insisted his side “needed fresh legs” and that Salah’s reaction was “absolutely OK,” while after the draw with West Ham in April, he played down suggestions of friction with his leading goalscorer.
“We spoke about that in the dressing room, and with that it’s done for me. That’s all. That’s it,” he told reporters in his post-match press conference.
“[That Salah agreed] was my impression, yes.”
But Klopp’s tone as he addressed the situation was more of weary resignation, discussing the mounting fixture list and his need to rotate while conceding: “That will be [for] the next generation, not me anymore.”
Managing a player with the world-best talent and relentless ambition of Mohamed Salah clearly takes an energy that Klopp held over many years but found in increasingly short supply.
Slot explained it perfectly
His replacement has it in abundance, and though Slot has the same issues with the baying media and the English footballing calendar, he has arrived at Anfield with an all-encompassing motivation.
The players have embraced this, immediately buying into the Dutchman’s ethos and the detail behind Liverpool’s early success under his management.
“We have some injuries now, so I have to take good care of the players who have played a lot,” Slot explained in his post-match press conference in Leipzig.
“Mo is one of them and Sunday is a big game coming up again.
“I need to use as many players as I can use for these tough weeks and months – because it’s not only weeks, there’s tough months coming up – so they are all prepared to play.”
There was a matter-of-fact calmness as Slot responded to questions on substituting the player who had clocked more minutes for his Liverpool prior to kickoff.
It simply wasn’t a concern.
Salah will never be happy to be substituted – and on only 13 occasions has he been brought off earlier than the 63rd minute, twice being due to injury – but there was still a respect shown as he left the pitch at the Red Bull Arena.
Whether what was almost certainly a pre-planned change was explained to him before the game, it seemed to acknowledge that Slot knows what he is doing.
Perhaps that can be defined as aura in itself; Klopp had it and his successor seems to have it too.
While he may have arrived from Feyenoord with a relatively humble CV, Slot has already cemented his reputation among a squad of world-class, title-winning players.
It was a small moment that summed up how quickly he has managed to stamp his authority on the role, taking everything in his stride as he presides over a start to his reign with 11 wins from 12 so far.
That is reflected in the application of the players themselves – be that Dominik Szoboszlai happy to do the “dirty job” in midfield or Salah making way in a high-profile Champions League tie – and only bodes well for Liverpool moving forward.
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