Liverpool boss Arne Slot has explained what it is like working with Mohamed Salah ahead of Premier League showdown with Wolves
The last time Wolves were at Anfield, Liverpool waved goodbye to one of their modern legends. This afternoon, though, they will hope a current great can keep them on track for a more celebratory send-off to this Premier League campaign.
After the emotional final-day farewell to Jurgen Klopp last May, the Reds welcome the Midlanders this time aiming for the victory that will re-establish their seven-point lead at the top-flight summit.
Given the aftertaste of the bitter finale to the 2-2 derby draw at Everton in midweek will still linger, Arne Slot’s side has extra incentive to respond to second-placed Arsenal’s late 2-0 triumph at struggling Leicester City the previous day.
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Amid the Goodison furore, among the few to retain their composure was Mohamed Salah, who created the equaliser for Alexis Mac Allister before firing Liverpool ahead with under 20 minutes remaining.
The Egyptian now has 27 goals and 19 assists in just 35 appearances this term, and has failed to produce at least one of either in only four of the Reds’ 24 Premier League games.
With 14 top-flight games remaining, he is already one behind his second-best tally of 23 league goals in a campaign – achieved in 2021/22 – and will have sights on his then record-breaking total of 32 in his debut Liverpool term eight years ago.
Salah, of course, will be 33 in the summer, with his advancing years a clear consideration in negotiations over a new contract that, with no resolution in sight, means the forward as it stands is playing out the final months of his Liverpool career.
Slot has previously stated he hopes it won’t come to that. And the Reds boss remains adamant Salah can continue contributing at the top level way beyond the end of the season.
“In certain things you can see he’s 32, and what I mean by that is that he is so experienced and so smart and knows so well where the ball will fall,” says the Reds boss. “That’s a positive thing about being 32, that he has lived through so many situations that he just feels that the ball can fall there and he’s there, like the second goal at Everton.
“In other parts like how fit he is, what he does to be able to play every three days at his age… He’s not the only one who does that, I think Cristiano Ronaldo is still doing it at the age of 40, but Mo is also definitely an example – like Virgil (van Dijk) – for our younger players with how fit they are and how able they are to be bring their best performance out every three days.
“But 32 is not old, old – for a football player it’s still a good age to be at, I think.”
Not that Salah is being given any special treatment from Slot and his coaching staff. “Similar to most of the other players,” says the Reds boss when asked how he has been managing the forward this season. “You talk on the team basis, on an individual basis what you like a lot about him and where he might do some small detail differently.
“But the main thing I try to do is to bring him and the other attackers in promising positions. If we want to do that, we need to have the ball, so we have to do a lot of things without the ball in the right way.
“Therefore, we try to work with them and create a situation where we bring the best out of every player in ball possession but also without the ball to bring these players in so many promising positions.”
Slot adds: “Every manager loves to work with the best players in the world because if you do an exercise or you try to have an idea about how you want to play, these players can execute it even better.
“Mo is a very humble person who wants to work every day to become a better player. He’s not the only one, he has a lot of team-mates that have a lot of quality as well, but I was fortunate enough to inherit a team that has a culture of becoming better every single day and I was fortunate to work with a team at Feyenoord that was similar to that.
“That’s what excites me most as a manager, to come in knowing that you’re going to work with players who want to become better. Then, my efforts are useful, if they didn’t want to become better then my efforts would be useless.”
