Mohamed Salah‘s poor performance at Nottingham Forest served as a warning of previous mid-season burnouts, but can Arne Slot trust his backups to step in?
It has been a remarkable season for Salah – one that has seen him accumulate 38 goal contributions (21 goals, 17 assists) in 29 appearances.
In the 1-1 draw at Forest on Tuesday, though, the 32-year-old endured a frustrating night by his world-class standards.
Interestingly, Salah actually had his highest number of touches (61), his joint-second most shots (six) and played his third-most key passes (four) of any game this season so far.
But the Egyptian also produced his joint-fourth most ‘miscontrols’ (five) in what was a messy performance at times.
We rightly hold Salah in higher esteem than others, but his displays over the past few weeks haven’t been wholly convincing.
His only goal involvement in the last three games was the penalty at home to Man United and he hasn’t quite possessed the spark he did before Christmas.
Fatigue has to be avoided
At this point in the season, it would be wrong to say that Salah is suffering burnout.
As his statistics against Forest show, he was still heavily involved, and it was erratic finishing – along with the intervention of Matz Sels and Ola Aina – that let him down more than anything.
The concern is that fatigue could become an issue if Slot continues to be so reliant on his No. 11.
Salah has started every Premier League and Champions League game this season, with his minutes in the league (1,767) only inferior to Virgil van Dijk (1,800).
In seasons past, Salah’s form has often deserted him in the spring, particularly in those campaigns interrupted by the Africa Cup of Nations.
Last term, he scored only three times in the league from March onwards after AFCON, not helped by injury, and it coincided with his frustration boiling over with Jurgen Klopp at West Ham.
In 2021/22, the arrival of Luis Diaz added life to a flagging Liverpool attack midway through the season, and Salah only scored nine times in 26 appearances from New Year’s Day onwards.
Salah has still excelled during the latter stages of campaigns, but with Liverpool beginning to drop points it is vital that they carefully manage their main source of goals.
Can fringe players fill in?
The biggest problem Slot has is that not only is Salah an indispensable figure who needs to play most of the time, but also that he may not fully trust the backup options.
Liverpool’s head coach recently admitted as much, saying it’s not easy to simply leave the Reds’ star player out.
“Everybody here knows the numbers Mo Salah brings in. There’s not many times a reason to take him out during a game or before a game,” Slot said.
“It’s not only about Federico when we are talking about him being limited in his playing time. It’s also about the others.”
Federico Chiesa has had a rocky opening to his Liverpool career, not making a single start in the league, with injuries and fitness issues holding him back.
Can Slot rely on the Italian to come in for Salah and start an important game? And will he be consistently available to select?
Harvey Elliott isn’t at his best on the right wing, with a lack of pace working against him, so it is hard to see him filling in regularly.
Ultimately, Slot has the unenviable task of finding a balance between overplaying Salah and tiring him out, and ensuring that the squad options are reliable enough to fill in.
It certainly worked against League Two opposition in Accrington Stanley, but it may be a different story in Premier League fixtures where every point is crucial.
With Champions League progress all but guaranteed, though, there should be another opportunity to rotate in the final league phase clash at PSV Eindhoven at the very least.
Salah has only dipped slightly in recent weeks – he may roar back with a hat-trick at Brentford this weekend – but at 32, it’s important to manage him sensibly.
We’ve seen this before in the second half of seasons, with supporters ruing a drop-off from Salah, but avoiding it is a tough task.
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