Saved by Salah: Slot must drop 4/10 Liverpool star ‘who did nothing’

Arne Slot’s men are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League. Eight points. Oh Jurgen Klopp, where for art thou? What the German would have given for that sort of a start to the season when he was at Liverpool.

Alas, the new regime with Slot at the helm is going rather well without the old boss. There were some hiccups on the road at St Mary’s on Sunday afternoon but just as they have done during the infant stages of the 2024/25 campaign, the Reds found a way.

Twice Southampton scored but ultimately Liverpool and indeed Mohamed Salah prevailed.

It took a succession of mistakes from Alex McCarthy and Flynn Downes that led to Dominik Szoboszlai’s opener before a neatly taken strike from Salah and a penalty from the Egyptian saw all three goals rather gift-wrapped a month out from Christmas.

It wasn’t plain sailing for the Merseysiders, far from it. Adam Armstrong scored before the break, following up on his spot kick that had initially been saved by Caoimhin Kelleher.

They did actually go ahead in the second period too when Mateus Fernandes fired home following an incisive break away by the hosts.

The inevitable Salah, however, rescued his side.

Salah's performance in numbers

Over the last few weeks, there has been a battle at the top of the league between two of the most prominent names in the Premier League; Erling Haaland and Salah.

It’s safe to say the Egyptian superstar has come out on top. Haaland has scored just twice in his last seven top-flight games while Liverpool’s star man has found the net on six occasions in his last five matches. He is a phenom. He is world-class. He could well be the man who determines where the title heads next May.

Salah might not have been at his fluid best in the first half against the Saints but he came alive in the second half and contributed with an excellent late showing on the South Coast.

His first goal was beautifully taken, latching onto a ball in behind from Ryan Gravenberch. The Reds winger needed just one touch to nudge the ball past McCarthy who was hopelessly out of position.

His second was far simpler, executing from the spot much to the delight of the travelling support. Salah darted over to the away end, tore away his shirt and bellowed loudly into the night sky. This was his moment, yet again.

The attacker was a constant nuisance throughout and hit the post late on with one of his seven shots throughout the contest. He also completed two of his three dribbles and supplied a key pass during another mightily impressive display.

He was perhaps let down by the man next to him; Darwin Nunez.

Darwin Nunez's performance in numbers

With Diogo Jota out with an injury, Nunez has had an excellent chance to showcase to Slot exactly what he’s all about. Sadly, beyond his goal against Aston Villa last time out, he’s only showing his negative side so far.

We’ll let Jamie Carragher sum things up. Speaking during commentary of the game on Sky Sports he remarked that the striker “wasn’t involved in one thing in the game”.

The stats rather sum that up too as Nunez registered just one shot on target and failed with his one and only dribble attempt.

The 25 touches the Uruguayan managed were also one fewer than goalkeeper Kelleher while his tally of ten passes (67% success rate), was the worst of any Liverpool starter on the field at St Mary’s.

Liverpool really needed an out ball and they did get that in Salah but Nunez did little to assert himself on the likes of Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Downes who was playing out of position at full-back.

That point of view was echoed by GOAL’s Tom Maston who handed the forward a 4/10 and wrote that he ‘struggled’ against the out-of-position Downes and ‘cut a frustrated figure at times’.

Hounded for an “embarrassing” moment by BBC reporter Jim Spence in the first half where he went down too easily, that was perhaps one of the most memorable moments of the game from the former Benfica ace. It’s safe to say he was saved by Salah on Sunday afternoon.

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By
Angus Sinclair

Nov 18, 2024