The Egyptian King is playing out of his skin this season, but there's a real worry that his history-making heroics won't get their just reward
During Barcelona's 2014-15 campaign, Lionel Messi both scored and assisted in 11 different games. Mohamed Salah has already done it 10 times in this season's Premier League – and we've not even reached the end of February.
It should also be pointed out that Liverpool's Egyptian King isn't playing alongside Luis Suarez and Neymar every week; he finished Wednesday's game against Aston Villa with Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz for company in attack. In that sense, what Salah is doing this season is truly extraordinary. The man is posting Messi-like numbers that would normally make a player a shoo-in for both team trophies and individual honours.
Messi, remember, was presented with the Ballon d'Or after inspiring Barca to the treble in 2015. However, there's a real risk that Salah's astounding performances won't get their just reward, with Liverpool looking more than a little shaky as the business end of the season approaches…
Getty ImagesPoint-earning machine
Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Villa provoked an awful lot of uncomfortable questions for the visitors, chief among them: where would the Reds be without Salah? The answer is, nowhere near the top of the table.
Salah is seemingly on a one-man mission to win a second Premier League title for Liverpool. Slot acknowledged as much in his post-match press conference at Villa Park, but was keen to stress that others were playing their part. "It's not only him," the Reds boss said. "I think I could not have asked more today from all the players tonight, they worked so incredibly hard."
It certainly would have been hard to fault them for effort, but Slot also needs more decisive displays to go with that desire – because Salah is carrying more than his fair share of the load at the moment. The winger's 24 goals and 15 assists have been worth 31 points to Liverpool this season – the most by a player across a single campaign since Jamie Vardy for Leicester City in 2015-16 (32).
Put quite simply, there is no more impactful player in England's top flight (or the world) right now, and we're literally looking at history in the making here. Salah is topping both the Premier League's goals and assists charts – not since the great Thierry Henry have we seen such levels of all-round excellence and productivity. However, there's no guarantee that it will be enough to win Liverpool the title.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportDrastic dip in form
Slot's side were outstanding during the first half of the season. Even if there was always the acknowledgement that their almost-flawless results were utterly unsustainable, the majority of the squad were performing at a very high level. That's no longer the case, though.
There has been an undeniable and alarming drop in intensity since the turn of the year, resulting in Liverpool failing to win half of their 14 matches in all competitions in 2025 so far.
There are mitigating circumstances, of course. Slot rotated heavily for the Champions League dead rubber against PSV and the FA Cup fourth-round clash with Plymouth Argyle, but the fact that both games were lost highlighted a problem: certain players simply cannot be rested (Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch etc.).
If they are, the dip in performance level is dramatic, and that means that the key men need to play in every game – which is obviously impossible in the modern era. Workloads simply have to be managed wisely in order to reduce the risk of injury – and the Villa game was a case in point.
Getty Images SportCongested schedule
Slot's decision to withdraw both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota just after the hour mark astounded many supporters – but he explained afterwards that he effectively had no choice. He wanted to protect two players who had only just returned from injury – particularly with Liverpool right in the middle of a gruelling run of five Premier League fixtures in just 15 days. The issue, of course, is that the substitutions negatively impacted his team's performance.
Alexander-Arnold, as if anyone needs reminding, had just drawn Liverpool level, and while Jota had been guilty of a dreadful miss earlier in the game, he had set up Salah for the game's opener, and there's surely not a football fan anywhere in the world that does not believe that the Portuguese would have buried the open-goal chance his replacement, Nunez, absolutely butchered just moments after coming on?
Getty Images SportThe No.9 problem
Nunez's form – and related mental state – is a major problem for Liverpool. Given Jota can't be relied upon to stay fit, and has to be carefully managed even when he is available, Slot really could have done with Nunez proving at least an adequate alternative at No.9.
However, the Uruguayan has regressed horribly during his third (and no doubt final) season at Anfield, and his match-winning double at Brentford on January 18 remain his only goals in the league since November.
Perhaps even more worryingly, his shocking miss against Villa clearly took a heavy toll on him, psychologically, as he was absolutely atrocious in every aspect of his game during one of the worst cameos ever seen from a Liverpool substitute. Indeed, it's no exaggeration to say that the Reds effectively played with 10 men for the final 20 minutes.
"I can accept every miss, especially from a player that has scored two very important goals against Brentford," Slot said on Thursday. "But what was a bit harder for me to accept was his behaviour after that chance. And by 'behaviour', I mean I think it got too much in his head and he wasn't the usual Darwin that works his ass off and makes sure he helps the team. I think he was too disappointed after missing that chance."
