Arne Slot has insisted Mohamed Salah will rediscover his goalscoring form, claiming the Egyptian is the one player in the world he would back to score if his life depended on it.
Salah was on the bench for Wednesday’s 5-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League having not scored in more than a month for his club. The 33-year-old will hope to be recalled for Saturday night’s trip to Brentford, with the champions searching for their first Premier League win since beating Everton in the Merseyside derby on 20 September. Defeats by Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Manchester United have left them in fourth, four points behind the leaders Arsenal.
“The way he trains, and when we do finishing drills, you cannot lose that,” said Liverpool’s head coach of Salah. “The only thing is we have to keep bringing him into those positions and he has to bring himself into those positions.
“There are a lot of things that can happen when you get older. But if I can select one player who has the ball 12, 13 yards from goal and he should score that to save my life, I would have Mo in that position. Now he needs to show that he can get into those positions.”
Salah scored 29 goals and assisted a further 18 in the Premier League last season, but is struggling to back up that form. He has not scored in the league since a last-minute winner from the penalty spot against Burnley on 14 September.
“I hope he is not ever going to take it well, because the moment you are going to take it well then you miss the fire,” Slot said of leaving Salah out of the starting XI for the game against Frankfurt. “That goes for every player, by the way. Not only Mo. The moment you start to accept that you are not playing any more and you are fine with that, then you miss the fire that is needed to play at this level.”
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Benítez back in management at Panathinaikos
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Panathinaikos have appointed former Liverpool and Real Madrid manager Rafael Benítez, the Greek club said on Friday, with the 65-year-old replacing Christos Kontis, who was sacked following Thursday’s 3-1 Europa League defeat at Feyenoord.
Greek media reported Benítez had signed a two-year contract with the Athens-based club. The Spaniard (pictured) was most recently at Celta Vigo, where he was dismissed in March last year after eight months in charge.
The deal includes an option to extend for an additional year and is worth around €4m (£5.2m) per season, which local media reported was the highest salary ever paid to a coach in the Greek top flight.
Benítez memorably guided Liverpool to the 2005 Champions League title and led Chelsea to the 2013 Europa League crown, in addition to domestic and European successes with Valencia, Inter and Napoli.
The Spaniard will be tasked with reviving Panathinaikos’ fortunes, as the 20-time Greek champions sit seventh in the Greek Super League and have made an inconsistent start to their Europa League campaign, suffering back-to-back defeats after an opening win. Reuters
Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
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After last weekend’s defeat by United, Virgil Van Dijk called a team meeting without the coaching staff to discuss the team’s poor run of form that saw them lose four games in succession in all competitions. “For me he has been the most influential I have had since I have been a manager,” Slot said of his captain. “He has been a leader throughout my period here. Every single day, I can see he is the leader. If we start a session I can always hear him. I could not have asked more from him in that role.
Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring the winner with a penalty against Burnley, his last Premier League goal for Liverpool. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA
“I encourage them to take responsibility and talk to each other. But especially if we have a leader like him [Van Dijk] with so much respect in the group, then it is a good thing.”
There is a chance Alexander Isak will be available after suffering a groin injury against Frankfurt but Jeremie Frimpong and Alisson are absent. “Alex is not too bad, there is a question mark for the weekend,” Slot said.
