Slot’s “finest performer” is making Liverpool look a one-man workforce

Liverpool haven’t one likelihood however two to win a recreation of soccer this week. Albeit that makes up simply half of the four-game shedding run that has despatched the Arne Slot mission right into a spin.

How fickle soccer is. Yesterday’s heroes are at present’s villains, and Liverpool know they should show sharply a return to type as their Premier League title defence crumbles earlier than them.

This appears reasonably dramatic, however the Reds are beset with issues, alright, and their points are illustrated clearly by the depressing statistic of 21 targets shipped in 2025/26. League leaders Arsenal, conversely, have conceded 3 times throughout all competitions.

The forwards aren’t actually firing, both, not on all cylinders, and there is a actual acceptance now that Liverpool have far-reaching tactical imbalances regardless of the record-breaking summer time of spending, and by Slot’s personal admission, they don’t have the solutions.

What Liverpool and Slot and the supporters must rise from this rut is a talisman, one thing to spearhead a cost by so many obstacles. Might that, as soon as once more, be Mohamed Salah?

Mohamed Salah’s position this season

This has unquestionably been essentially the most difficult interval of Salah’s Liverpool profession. The 33-year-old has appeared a shadow of his common self, going through heavy criticism for quiet and wasteful performances on the correct wing.

Soccer’s fickleness casts final yr’s unbelievable achievements into the background, and that is unfair. Salah carried Slot’s early mission to the very best peak of English soccer, shattering information and scoring 29 targets and offering 18 assists throughout the Premier League season. Different avenues elevate that haul larger nonetheless.

However, equally, we can’t shirk from the Egyptian’s struggles, having watched this legendary ahead battle in opposition to a tide. 4 targets and three assists from 13 matches is surprising by Salah’s requirements, nevertheless it’s the squandered possibilities and lack of fluidity which have beggared perception.

Nonetheless, if ever there was a person to return to type, it’s him, and Salah’s comfort aim in opposition to Brentford final weekend served as a well timed reminder of his greatness.

The £400k-per-week famous person will play his half once more this yr, to make sure, however Liverpool want a brand new chief.

Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak have been signed on to take the baton as goal-getters-in-chief, however there’s one other participant below Slot’s wing who’s proving himself the talisman to drive a pathway out of this mess.

Liverpool’s new model of Salah

If Liverpool’s present “disaster”, as Sky Sports activities’ Jamie Carragher has outlined it, is to abate in time to make this a profitable season, it is clear that leaders are wanted in additional than simply the ahead areas.

Virgil van Dijk has come below fireplace for his latest shows, however he stays the galvanising drive in defence, barking throughout the sector because the membership’s captain.

However the man rising as the brand new main mild is Dominik Szoboszlai, who has appeared the Anfield facet’s finest participant throughout a variety of positions this time period, which is equally spectacular and regarding.

It has been over two years since Szoboszlai, 25, moved from RB Leipzig to Merseyside for £60m, and from the get-go, he is offered bundles of power and tenacity.

Slot’s choice to drag him deeper has proved a profitable one, as Szoboszlai shouldn’t be naturally prolific in entrance of aim and this deeper berth offers rise to his many different qualities.

Mentioned by analyst Raj Chohan to be “Liverpool’s finest performer at present“, the Hungary captain has raised his recreation, maturing whereas sharpening his technical ability and creating his defensive recreation.

The info exhibits us that Szoboszlai has made headway this season, extra sturdy and extra full than his hitherto stage. His physicality and talent to direct and supply dynamism within the build-up is one thing that, say Alexis Mac Allister has did not match, and on this, Szoboszlai is stretching head and shoulders above his teammates.

It appears fairly probably that, when Liverpool stabilise, Szoboszlai will have the ability to take his recreation to the subsequent stage, nonetheless driving issues ahead however surrounded by a collective competency that’s merely not there proper now.

Soccer is unforgiving. You can’t journey the coattails of your membership’s former successes, standing on the shoulders of giants, a few of whom would possibly even stay inside the first-team squad.

Liverpool have been at all times going to want a interval of adaptation, it was clear this could be a transitional season, missing the fluency and muscle-movement spark of 2024/25 as Slot grabbed and sustained the ultimate embers of Jurgen Klopp’s legacy.

Szoboszlai has retained all that high-octane Klopp-tailored high quality whereas moulding his recreation into one thing Slot-esque too. To place it one other approach, he’s extra full than he has ever been, and he’s far outstripping his struggling teammates.

Slot should devise an answer to this pit into which Liverpool have fallen. So many gamers throughout the sector must step up.

Szoboszlai can’t stand any larger than he already is, and if the Reds are to show a nook, they’ll owe a lot to the Hungarian machine’s high quality and verve and unbreakable spirit.