At some point last week, Jurgen Klopp decided that he would try to beat Arsenal with an all-out attack. He tested his 4-2-4 formation against Rangers in the Champions League and enjoyed the way in which Liverpool pinned back the opposition full-backs. The plan, it was clear to see, was to use four forwards to relentlessly press Arsenal without the ball and win possession high up the pitch.
That plan may have been successful; their 3-2 defeat was decided upon fine margins. One penalty decision went against them, another for them. The crucial moment of the match might just have been Luis Diaz going down with an injury eight minutes after he had assisted Darwin Nunez for the equaliser. Diaz had been Liverpool’s principal attacking threat.
Or it might have been on 69 minutes, when Mohamed Salah was substituted with the game level at 2-2. Klopp presumably aimed to secure a little more control – Ibrahima Konate was his replacement – but it was still an extraordinary moment. This was only the second time in 18 months that Salah had left the field in a Premier League match when Liverpool weren’t winning. He has regularly been taken off before, but only for a rest. The catcalls and jeers from Arsenal supporters revealed everything.
But then why keep Salah on? He had taken one shot, which was skewed wide. He had created one chance, with a simple pass. He had completed nine passes in the opposition half at a rate of one every seven-and-a-half minutes. He had not won a free kick. Despite the demand for high pressing, Salah wholly failed to do it: Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Darwin Nunez applied pressure on a player 41 times, Salah just three. Liverpool’s success was built around meritocracy; Salah wasn’t doing enough to justify his place on the pitch.
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In August, Salah signed a new contract that made him the highest-paid player in Liverpool’s history. At 30 years old, there was some debate about whether to cash in, but the time for that was probably summer 2021 not a year later. Klopp insisted that the news would give everyone at the club a boost, and that seemed totally reasonable. Salah had established himself as the Premier League’s elite goalscorer and Liverpool had a carrot to push for a second league title under Klopp.
But at the same time, Liverpool had already embarked upon their succession plan. They committed vast sums of money to Salah while subsequently committing vast sums of money to the signing of Nunez. They effectively replaced (at least in terms of squad depth) Sadio Mane, a wide forward, with a 6′2 central striker. How would they ensure Salah’s goalscoring output persevered with a more focal penalty-box presence?
Erm, they wouldn’t? Across the board, Salah’s numbers are down. From last season to this, the numbers are stark: 52 touches per 90 minutes vs 42, 1.6 shots on target per 90 minutes to 0.9 and 4.4 shots per 90 minutes to under 3.0. The number of touches in the penalty area have dropped too. Against Arsenal on Sunday, Salah touched the ball once in the opposition box.
One thing that has increased this season is Salah’s chance creation – his current rate of 3.3 chances created per 90 minutes is not just 1.5 higher than last season, it’s also his highest rate in any league season of his career. That figures: if you aren’t going to be in the penalty area and aren’t going to be taking shots, you’re going to do a lot more passing. In 2019-20, when Liverpool won the league, Salah attempted 35 crosses; in 699 minutes so far this season he’s already on 19.
Klopp believes that is an issue of circumstance rather than strategy. Because Liverpool are not playing well, everything in attack feels a little more staccato and therefore Salah is being kept wide more easily rather than drifting centrally. It is true that Salah had his highest number of penalty-box touches in a game this season against Bournemouth, when Liverpool won 9-0. Klopp’s firm belief is that as Nunez settles and Liverpool reconfigure their attack, Salah will respond.
But the new contract makes things tricky because it piled eggs into one basket.For anyone who has watched Salah over the last half decade, this remains baffling. Liverpool have ostensibly handed a bumper new deal to one of their greatest goalscorers in their history as he approaches the autumn of his career and then – deliberately or otherwise – completely changed his role within the team.
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