Arne Slot sent major warning over Mohamed Salah amid Liverpool woes

Liverpool have hit a slump in form as of late, losing three consecutive games across the Premier League and Champions League, and Paul Scholes has picked out a problem that he sees in talisman Mohamed Salah.

Paul Scholes believes that Mohamed Salah has been “making the wrong decisions” for Liverpool as of late, as the Reds hit a rough patch. While Arne Slot was able to guide the Reds to a Premier League title last season, his team have shown major weaknesses at times this term.

At the time of writing, Liverpool currently sit second in the league standings, a point behind Arsenal after seven games. However, they have been unable to secure a win in their last two outings in the English top-flight – while also suffering defeat in the Champions League in the interim.

The Anfield side suffered a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last weekend, before falling to Galatasaray in a 1-0 defeat on Tuesday. Liverpool also returned from Stamford Bridge on Saturday without a point to show for their endeavours, after being dealt a crushing 2-1 loss to Chelsea.

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And while plenty of supporters, and pundits alike, have picked problem with a leaky defence, following lacklustre displays from the likes of Milos Kerkez and Ibrahima Konate, as well as Florian Wirtz struggling to find his footing in the English top-flight, Scholes has called out Salah for the part he has played.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football alongside Nicky Butt and Paddy McGuinness, the ex-Manchester United midfielder said: “He’s still playing in the same position – but he just seems to be making the wrong decisions, More often than not.

“There’s a couple of times, if you remember last year, look, he scored loads of goals, but a lot of the time he cutting in from that right hand side, his left foot, and he’s playing some great balls into people to just tap in.

“There was a couple of instances on Saturday. He’s cutting inside. He’s ballooning the ball over the bar.”

Butt then added: “They’re going in top corner last year as well. When he comes inside that left foot, you think he’s hitting that top corner. He had three or four [on Saturday] and he’s hitting like 20, 30 feet over and you’re thinking; ‘He’s just off the boil’.”

Salah proved to be one of Liverpool’s most valuable assets last season, with 29 goals and 16 assists in the Premier League alone. And while he has already scored two, and set up a further two in the league this term, Scholes and Butt believe that he isn’t showing the same consistency.

Elsewhere, Wayne Rooney has also questioned Salah’s work ethic – taking a swipe at the Egyptian forward in the wake of their loss to Chelsea. He said: “With the players coming in, [Alexander] Isak, [Hugo] Ekitike, and Wirtz, the money they have spent on them, what does Salah think now?

“Top players have an ego, and Mo Salah has been one of the best players in the league for a long, long time. I think the last week has shown that when it’s gone well, you’re scoring goals and you’re winning games, it’s great and the team will put up with that, but over the last week, I’d question his work ethic.

“I know he doesn’t always get back and defend as much, but in the Chelsea game, his full-back is getting torn apart, and he’s [there] watching. Players like [Virgil] Van Dijk and Alisson, who I know wasn’t playing, but the leaders in the dressing room should be telling him; ‘You need to help it’.

“For me, that was a worry. He has looked a little bit lost the past week, in my opinion.”

It comes as Slot and Liverpool now have a two-week international break to right one or two wrongs from as of late, before they return to Premier League action on Sunday, October 19 to face Manchester United in the north-west derby – a game that Salah will hope to make a mark in.

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