Arne Slot ought to drop Mohamed Salah to assist halt Liverpool’s struggles, in line with Man United legend Wayne Rooney.
The Reds’ dire run of kind continued on the weekend once they had been overwhelmed 3-0 by Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
That defeat was Liverpool’s eighth of their previous 11 video games in all competitions, whereas it was the third time in 5 matches they’ve misplaced by a three-goal margin.
A number of gamers are taking part in under their title-winning kind from final season and regardless of a summer season spend of £446million on the likes of Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, Slot’s facet look a a lot worse outfit.
A kind of struggling badly is Salah, and after a shocking marketing campaign in 2024-25 the place the ahead supplied 57 purpose contributions in 52 video games, he has scored simply 5 objectives in 17 appearances this time round.
The 33-year-old has been ineffectual in assault, whereas different groups have additionally used his perceived defensive weaknesses as a option to get on the Reds.
Man United legend Wayne Rooney has urged Liverpool boss Arne Slot to drop Mohamed Salah
Liverpool are struggling badly for the time being, with the Reds shedding eight of their final 11 video games
And Rooney felt it was time for Slot to get robust on his talisman because the Dutchman goals to get his facet out of this hunch.
‘If I used to be Slot, I would attempt to make an enormous determination simply so it has an influence on the remainder of the group,’ he mentioned on The Wayne Rooney Show.
‘Salah is just not serving to them defensively. In case you’re one of many gamers who they’ve signed and also you’re on the bench and you have seen him not operating – and once more he is a membership legend and all the pieces he is accomplished for the membership – however in case you’re on the bench, then what message does that ship to you?’
Salah’s defensive deficiencies have been highlighted by different groups, with Chelsea left again Marc Cucurella even saying the Blues focused Liverpool’s proper hand facet throughout their 2-1 win final month.
‘We tried to assault (on their proper facet) at all times as a result of we all know that Salah is at all times able to assault, to play the counter assault,’ he mentioned after the sport.
‘So we all know that, we apply and the supervisor tells us that the area is possibly there. We noticed that within the final minute.’
When pressed on whether or not that was a weak spot of Liverpool’s, Cucurella added: ‘Yeah, I believe they play one fashion of sport that Salah is at all times able to assault so we put together that.
‘If we do the crosses [with] possibly plenty of tempo on them, so I believe we attempt to make this stuff on our facet and at the moment it labored, and we will win the sport on this approach.’
Rooney felt that if Slot dropped Salah it will ship a message to the remainder of the squad
After an unbelievable 2024-25 marketing campaign, Salah has struggled to duplicate that kind this season
Rooney tried to place his finger on the place precisely issues are going mistaken for Slot and urged Liverpool followers to cease talking about legendary former boss Jurgen Klopp.
‘They are going via a tough time, aren’t they?,’ added Rooney. ‘You’ve got in all probability received to take a look at the impact of what sadly occurred to Jota. What impact does which have on the gamers as a result of that is his team-mates? That certainly has to have an impact.
‘However then there is not any excuse for not combating and never tackling. I believe Slot’s received an enormous job to get them again taking part in and successful.
‘The large factor is when he has a run of outcomes like this, Klopp’s title retains getting introduced up.
‘It’s kind of just like the presence with Sir Alex Ferguson. As an illustration, when David Moyes got here in [at Manchester United] and [Louis] Van Gaal, Fergie’s title would at all times get introduced up.
‘With Slot, Klopp retains getting introduced up. “He is not Jurgen Klopp, he is inferior to Jurgen Klopp”. However I believe the Liverpool followers simply want to maneuver away from that and get behind him.’
The Reds are languishing in eleventh within the Premier League after Saturday’s defeat and return to motion on Wednesday once they host PSV within the Champions League.
