The decision to leave Mohamed Salah on the bench did not spring only from the 4-1 home loss to PSV in the Champions League. A subtler turning point came months earlier at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea’s match-winner exposed a recurring tactical problem: their full-back pushed into the box untracked and supplied the assist. Marc Cucurella’s post-match explanation — that Liverpool’s right side can be left exposed because Salah is primed to attack on the break — summed up what opponents have repeatedly targeted.
In the four Premier League defeats after that game, opposing teams repeatedly attacked down Liverpool’s left flank — Liverpool’s right — and exploited the space behind Salah. Jamie Carragher’s criticism that Salah has “thrown his right-back under the bus” captures the pattern: Manchester United, Brentford, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest all concentrated play down Salah’s side and created clear opportunities by dragging a defender out of position.
Salah has never been celebrated for relentless defensive work. Under Jürgen Klopp, teammates such as Jordan Henderson helped cover those defensive responsibilities. But the data show a noticeable drop in Salah’s defensive contribution since Klopp’s exit. Where there used to be an accepted trade-off — reduced defensive duties in return for prolific attacking output — that bargain looks to have frayed under Slot. Salah himself has acknowledged the understanding in the past, saying along the lines of “rest me defensively and I will provide offensively.” The problem is the offensive returns have dipped: six non-penalty goals in his last 33 Liverpool appearances is a clear decline, and it no longer offsets the defensive vulnerabilities his positioning creates.
The PSV goal crystallised the issue: a simple shoulder drop by Mauro Junior allowed him to slip past Salah and create the assist. Carragher called the defensive moment “embarrassing” and warned how much space an attacker could open up. Season-on-season tracking supports that observation: Salah’s defensive actions have decreased while his attacking physical metrics — number of sprints and top speeds — have also fallen, consistent with the natural decline of a 34-year-old forward.
One revealing statistic is the frequency with which wide forwards sprint back into their own half to recover defensive shape. Among the 45 wide forwards who have logged 270 minutes or more this season, Salah makes that recovery run less often than any of them. That reluctance to track back is central to why Slot has opted to omit him from some matchday lineups. As Carragher put it when analysing Slot’s choice at West Ham, the manager removed the one player he had previously allowed not to defend.
In practice, Slot left Salah unused in the 2-0 win at the London Stadium and again on the bench at Leeds when Liverpool were protecting a lead. The tactical logic was straightforward: when the team needs to preserve a scoreline rather than chase a goal, a player who offers less defensive cover is a less logical choice. Analyses of pressing intensity show Liverpool press more aggressively on the right when Salah is not on the pitch, and the specific vulnerability Cucurella described becomes less pronounced without him.
That said, benching Salah is not a silver bullet. Leeds still equalised in stoppage time, and Slot continues to juggle a series of broader tactical questions. But the combination of a dip in attacking returns, reduced defensive contribution, and public friction with the coaching staff has eroded trust. Unless Salah can restore the level of goals and assists that justified giving him defensive latitude, his selective defensive absence will remain a compelling reason for Slot to leave him out of certain lineups.