Arne Slot could soon be forced into a big Liverpool decision with Mohamed Salah returning from AFCON.
Mohamed Salah suffered an Egypt blow that could impact Liverpool and Arne Slot. (Image: (Photo by Samah Zidan/Anadolu via Getty Images))
Mohamed Salah looks to have handed Arne Slot a Liverpool dilemma upon his return from AFCON. Egypt had enjoyed an impressive tournament prior to elimination in their semi-final clash with Senegal and – on Saturday – Salah’s nation lost a third-place play-off to Nigeria.
With no goals scored in 120 minutes of normal and extra-time, a penalty shoot-out was required – with the Super Eagles winning 4-2 and Salah was one of those that missed his spot-kick. He will now return to Merseyside, but he may struggle to be back for the Champions League clash against Marseille.
Just a few hours earlier, Dominik Szoboszlai slammed his penalty against the bar during Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Burnley at Anfield. The 25-year-old has an incredible record from 12 yards – with those stats boosted by his goal from the spot against AC Milan in the Champions League when Salah was absent – but that has now taken a hit.
READ MORE: Arne Slot responds to Anfield boos after Liverpool’s draw with Burnley
Florian Wirtz put Liverpool ahead later in the half, but Slot’s side were, once again, forced to settle for a point against a newly-promoted team at Anfield after Marcus Edwards equalised in the second half.
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Though Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 12 matches, half of them have been draws and, yet they still sit in the top-four. With less fixtures on the horizon, Slot will be hoping to fix some of those issues for the remainder of the season.
He could also have a fresh dilemma to solve with Salah and Szoboszlai, his two main penalty-takers, both missing on the same day. It is likely the former will get the nod upon his return, but there is no guarantee he will remain on those duties if he misses again.
Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike are all potential takers if Slot opts for a change. Slot left the latter duo on for the full 90 minutes against Burnley, but Liverpool could not find a winner, with Ekitike seeing one disallowed for offside in the late stages.
At the full-time whistle, boos emanated around Anfield with Slot giving a clear response to those in his post-match press conference.
He said: “In my head, it wasn’t a boo but, in my head, It was frustration, as well. We are Liverpool and we play Burnley, who we have to give credit to how they defended, cleared balls off the line; all the things you want to see if you are a Burnley manager, players try to do everything that prevents us from scoring.
“But if we, as Liverpool, are not disappointed by having a draw against Burnley at home then something is completely wrong. I completely understand the frustration. I am the same and the players definitely have the same frustrations as the fans have.”
The Liverpool boss continued: “It’s not for the first time, it is usually frustrating. They come in different fashions. Sometimes it is that we are scoring a goal in stoppage time and you expect to win the game and then you concede another goal in stoppage time.
“I think these games we have played quite a lot (nine defeats in 12 from September to November) where we are the team creating more than the team we face, but were losing those games.
“Then we started to become a team that was a bit more careful in conceding chances and that led to the fact that it also made it more difficult to create a lot.
“And as a result of that we have been in a lot of games where we haven’t lost and I think today was a game where I liked seeing us have even more possession than we would usually have, generating a lot of chances and usually that comes with, if you take more risk, it comes with the other team counter-attacking you but we controlled that really well.
“But yes, in football, one team can have two chances – one was almost an own goal for us – and score one goal when the other team has multiple chances and score just one goal as well – and then you get the result you get.”
