Should Arne Slot Drop Mo Salah? How Liverpool Boss Can Resolve His Star Man’s Slow Start

Is it time for Arne Slot to drop Mohamed Salah?

Liverpool legend Salah produced one of the greatest individual seasons in Premier League history in Slot’s first campaign, delivering 29 goals and 18 assists over 38 games as the Reds romped to the title.

But his level has dipped significantly since then. Salah has not been terrible by any stretch of the imagination – he has scored two goals and provided two assists in his first seven Premier League starts of the new season – yet the 33-year-old appears to have lost a little of the spark that made him unplayable throughout 2024/25.

Part of that comes down to Liverpool’s transformation during a record-breaking summer transfer window. A £446.5 million overhaul brought in the likes of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, reshaping the attack around new patterns and new sources of threat.

Salah is still starting on the right, but the hierarchy of touches and finishing opportunities has shifted, and his role has evolved from undisputed spearhead to one piece within a more evenly shared attacking structure.

Mo Salah’s slow start after stunning season

Salah’s numbers must always be judged against his own sky-high standards. Last season he delivered 59 goal contributions in 38 Premier League matches — an incredible return that helped him finish fourth in the 2025 Ballon d’Or vote. This season he has four from seven starts — still respectable, but comparatively subdued for a player accustomed to bending entire matches to his will.

More importantly, those quieter returns have come during Liverpool’s most unstable spell under Slot. They went from being late-show specialists — winning seven straight league games, six of them thanks to goals scored in the final ten minutes — to suffering three straight defeats in the space of a week. Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea all exposed the same flaw: Liverpool are no longer dictating games, and Salah is no longer bailing them out when control slips.

How Chelsea targeted Mo Salah at Stamford Bridge

Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Stamford Bridge became a case study. Marc Cucurella revealed afterwards that Chelsea had specifically targeted Liverpool’s right flank, knowing Salah remains high up the pitch to be ready for counter-attacks.

“We know that Salah is always ready for the counter-attack, so we practised that and the manager said the space might be there,” Cucurella explained. The winning goal came exactly that way — Cucurella burst into the gap behind Salah before crossing for Estevao to score.

Liverpool have long lived with that trade-off. Keeping Salah high has won them two Premier League titles, one Champions League and plenty more. The difference now is that the structure behind him is no longer compensating. The right-sided midfielder has not always recovered in time, the full-back hasn’t always been protected early enough, and opponents are beginning to time their surges into the space he vacates.

How new Liverpool signings disrupted Mo Salah

His dip is less about decline and more about disconnection. Liverpool’s new attack has redistributed responsibility. Wirtz drifts centrally to orchestrate, Isak demands early deliveries in the box, and Ekitike attacks space with straight-line runs. Salah is still receiving the ball in dangerous areas, but not always in the rhythm or angles he prefers. The quick inside-right switch that used to be automatic is now delayed by half a beat, and that hesitation is often enough for defenders to shut the door.

Technically, the final decision has also wavered. Salah has snatched at shots he would normally place, and driven into traffic when he once slid teammates through. These are tiny margins, but when Liverpool are losing control elsewhere, his moments of hesitation carry more weight than before.

Rhythm is the final factor. For a player who thrives on repetition, a slight role adjustment, a shifting cast of partners and intermittent rest in Europe can disrupt timing. His movement remains sharp, but his relationships are still catching up.

Liverpool fans call on Arne Slot to drop Mo Salah

The debate reached boiling point after Stamford Bridge. Phone-ins and social feeds were flooded with calls for change, with a vocal section of the fanbase insisting Salah should be benched to jolt Liverpool out of their slump.

One supporter said: “He should drop Salah. I honestly think he should drop Salah.” Another added: “If you’re not performing, I don’t care who you are, you shouldn’t be playing.” A third posted: “Bench him for one game. Not sold, not finished — just benched. Nobody should be undroppable.” Another fan joked: “Give him a week off and let Chiesa run riot. Worst case scenario is Salah comes back angry.”

Even UFC star Paddy Pimblett weighed in to say it was time Salah “came off” rather than being kept on out of reputation.

But for every shout demanding his removal, there were calmer replies urging perspective. One fan countered: “You lot do this every year. Say he’s done, say he’s lost a yard, then he scores 20 after Christmas.” Another replied: “I’ll worry about Salah when Salah tells me to worry about Salah.”

Arne Slot’s defence of Salah

Slot has made it clear he has no intention of bowing to pressure. He has repeatedly argued that Salah is still reaching the right areas — and that the finishing will follow.

Speaking after Saturday’s defeat at Chelsea, Slot said: “He came inside a lot and there were many promising situations. Normally with Mo that leads to goals. Today it didn’t. What I like is that he got into the positions he wants to be in and I want him to be in. He has shown throughout his career that he can score goals.”

His defence was firm not just in tone but in implication. Liverpool’s problems are not solved by swapping one name for another. The flaws are structural — and removing Salah may well create more than it fixes.

What Arne Slot can adjust without a flashpoint

Liverpool do not need to bench Salah to balance the team — they simply need to protect his freedom more intelligently. That means asking the right-sided midfielder to recover quicker when possession is lost, staggering the full-back’s position depending on whether Salah stays high, and restoring the rapid inside-right combinations that once made him unstoppable.

Rotation can still happen without it being an execution. Federico Chiesa and Ekitike can start occasional games on the right to freshen things up without Salah being framed as the problem. Selective rests are strategy — exile is theatre.

Should Liverpool drop Mo Salah?

The calls are loud, but they are premature. Salah may not yet be in full flight, but Liverpool’s issues run deeper than one player’s finishing streak. Dropping him would send a message — but likely the wrong one. Liverpool do not need a scapegoat. They need structure. Fix that first, and Salah’s spark will follow.