IT WAS a telling moment at Anfield.
When Arne Slot needed a goal and someone to rescue him, he dragged off Mo Salah.
For so long Liverpool’s talisman has delivered – not least against the old enemy, Manchester United.
The Egyptian superstar went into Sunday’s clash at Anfield with a whopping 15 goals and six assists in his last 11 games versus the Red Devils.
But immediately after Harry Maguire headed Ruben Amorim’s side back in front on 84 minutes, Slot took off the four-time Golden Boot winner and fourth-highest all-time Premier League goalscorer, throwing on a wing-back instead.
Slot clearly felt 188-goal Salah had not shown enough evidence – on Sunday afternoon and in recent weeks – to suggest he was going to step up.
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From his 39 touches, Salah had managed three shots, just one on target and crucially one miscued wide into the Kop from a glorious chance when Florian Wirtz was completely free ten yards out.
Subs Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa were all involved in Cody Gakpo’s equaliser while Salah’s decision-making was below his lofty heights yet again.
This was not a one-off this season, either.
Salah, 33, has certainly endured a drop-off at the start of this campaign.
A dip is not uncommon for the superstar forward – but usually he makes a lightning start and the struggles come when he is fatigued at the end of a long season or after representing Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Worryingly for Slot and Liverpool, in 2025-26, it appears to have come before heading off to Morocco in December.
By the same time a year ago, during which time he also started the first eight games of the Premier League campaign, Salah had five goals and five assists on his way to topping both charts (29 goals, 18 assists).
This time around, he has just two goals and two assists, taking 15 shots compared to 24 and his shot conversion rate has dropped from 21 per cent to just 13.
Salah’s only goals this term came against Bournemouth and the last-gasp penalty at Burnley.
It is not uncommon for Salah to be subbed off.
But historically it has been to rest his legs on the way to victory – not while trailing at home to their biggest rivals when desperate to end a difficult losing streak.
In the ten times Slot had taken his No11 off before in the Prem, Liverpool were winning them all – including after his 100th-minute assist for Rio Ngumoha at Newcastle in August as the only previous occasion this term.
Salah was last subbed off in a Premier League defeat in the mad game at Tottenham in September 2023 – but went off at 1-1 when the Reds were down to nine men.
In fact, Sunday was the first time since April 1, 2023 that the fourth official put up Salah’s number when Liverpool were losing in the Premier League – at 3-1 down in a 4-1 defeat away at Manchester City.
The last time it happened at Anfield was behind closed doors, a 1-0 loss to Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea on March 4, 2021.
Of course, the problems at Liverpool are not solely focused on Salah, who is adjusting to life without Trent Alexander-Arnold behind him at right-back.
Slot is trying to get the best out of £452million worth of new signings, cope with goalkeeper Alisson’s injury and work out what is going wrong with Virgil van Dijk.
Four defeats on the trot – three in the league – for the first time since 2014 has seen Liverpool slip from sitting pretty at the top down to fourth in just a few nightmare weeks.
But add in the fact that Salah has not scored in any of them – or indeed not found the net for Liverpool since September 17 – and the alarm bells are beginning to ring.
Now it has got to the point where there are serious question marks if arguably Liverpool’s best player and record goalscorer in the Premier League era should be in the starting XI.
Liverpool face Eintracht Frankfurt away on Wednesday and then travel to Brentford on Saturday.
And Jamie Carragher believes there is a case to be made for Salah being left out.
He told Sky Sports: “We’re at that stage now where Mo Salah shouldn’t be a guaranteed starter every week.
“I do think this is a real conundrum for the manager going forward.
“I don’t think Salah should be like a Virgil van Dijk where it’s like ‘first name on the teamsheet’.
I don’t think Mo Salah’s in any position to complain if he was left out…
Jamie Carragher
“We’re at a stage now with Mo Salah where he shouldn’t be playing every game, it shouldn’t be a case of ‘he’s the first name on the team sheet’.
“It should be, ‘Yes, he’s in your best team, he plays home games’, but I don’t think Salah should start both of those away games.
“But I do think in the away games and helping your full-back, I don’t think Salah should be starting every game right now, certainly away from home, with the form he’s in.”
Asked if Salah would be OK with not playing, Carragher replied: “Would he be OK with that? Probably not.
“But when you get to a certain age you have to understand that, especially when you’re not playing well, where’s your argument?
“It’s different if you’re banging in the goals and your manager makes a tactical decision and you’re frustrated.
“I don’t think Mo Salah’s in any position to complain if he was left out of one of the next two away games.”
Should Slot follow Carragher’s advice and name Salah on the bench at the Gtech, it would be the first Premier League game the Egypt hero has not started since April 2024.
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That certainly caused a stir as Salah and Jurgen Klopp clashed on the touchline at West Ham, with Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez forced to intervene and hold their team-mate back.
And regardless of the score and even if Liverpool get back to winning ways in West London, Slot will not accept a public feud with his £400,000 top-paid player to further derail an already-rocky season.
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