19 Nov 2025 10:34:05
Interested to know people's opinion of Salah, do we think he will regain some kind of form or has the decline started?
I personally think there will be spurts of brilliance but his minutes should be managed, even more so if we do get Semenyo.
I would sooner see him putting a shift in for 60 minutes and then get rested for the next one.
19 Nov 2025 12:02:00
In my opinion, Salah is missing team mates who brought the best out of him; Trent and Nunez/ Diaz. I think he is also one of the more worst affected by the passing of Jota, but that's another discussion.
Diaz/ Nunez were did his pressing and tracking back for him, which allowed him to get away with a lot less defensive work. Ekitike and Isak are not what I would describe as pressing machines, nor do you see them back in our third scrapping for the ball.
On top of this, Trent operated in a different space to Salah. He did his best work from inside his own half or drifting into midfield. Bradley occupies the same space as Salah in the attacking phases and this is crowding out the space Salah has to operate in. Salah likes to really hug the touchline holding the width and then come inside with the ball. Bradley is constantly making underlapping runs and if this is tactical it is a huge error from Slot and co. However I think it's just Bradley playing his natural game. The issue with it though is he drags players into the space that Salah wants to come into. Trent didn't do this. He held back to try and control the game with his range of passing and on the odd occasion he ran beyond Salah it was more often than not an overlapping run, because he had far more crossing ability than Bradley.
I don't think Salah has suddenly become a bad player. He's always been the kind of player who concedes possession a lot, doesn't press well, and seems to drift in and out of games. He's just not getting the numbers this season right now and I think some of that is probably down to the inconsistency that grief can cause (everyone who's experienced it will know you have good weeks and bad weeks) . But more importantly I think the main issue is just that Bradley is in his way and on top of that he's having to do more defensive work to make up for the addition of Isak and Ekitike. It's all about marginal gains at the highest level in elite sport and Salah by the way still has 5 goals and 3 assists this season in 16 games, which for most wingers is considered a good return. He's just set a higher bar for himself with years of elite level performances, but right now he's trending to achieve around 18 goals and 10 assists this season. If Saka, Semenyo or Mbuemo do that this season they'll be in the conversation for POTY.
Maybe we (myself included) took Diaz, Nunez and Trent for granted. They had their flaws, but for what we needed to get the best out of Salah, they were ideal team mates in hindsight. Salah is not bad all of a sudden, we're just seeing that he is actually human and can be affected by things away from the pitch but also needs his team to get the best out of him.
That's my view of the situation, anyway.
19 Nov 2025 12:04:11
I would never write Salah off and he has shown some positive glimpses of late but I have been calling for some true like-for-like competition for a few years now. Loss of form, tiredness, tactics, AFCON are all reasons to have an alternative option and I would be more than happy if that competition happened to be Semenyo.
(I know Semenyo is likely to go to AFCON in future but not this time round and the fact that he is homegrown is a major bonus)
{Ed001's Note - he can also play on the left or through the middle as well.}
19 Nov 2025 12:12:08
I think the 60 min shout is a good one, even if we don't get Semenyo this January. if he finds it hard to do all the tracking back etc . then let him do his work in the hour unless he's having a blinder, then we can put Frimpong or slob there for th3 rest of the game .
Salah still has plenty of goals n assists in him.
19 Nov 2025 12:15:21
MK Scouser - Good points. The team is no longer built around him and is going through some severe growing pains at the same time.
When Gakpo, Isak and Mo all play. our pressing from the front will be very different to last season, and that is not really going to wash in this footballing climate.
19 Nov 2025 12:22:18
Mk, wasnt Nunez dropped and criticized by Slot for not putting in the effort?
19 Nov 2025 13:10:34
Still a top player for me, maybe just can't play 90 minutes of nearly every game anymore.
19 Nov 2025 13:14:10
Probably a number of factors - mental, physical and tactical.
We have struggled to progress the ball up the pitch this season, to him or to any of our forwards really. It's no surprise they all look poor. Even Ekitike, who has shown glimpses, has struggled to get involved in games as we cannot move the ball up the pitch.
19 Nov 2025 13:18:56
Salah's form dipped the last couple of months of last season. I don't buy your reasons, MK. I hope I'm wrong, and I've said on here several times, I fear that we've seen the best of him. He certainly needs taking out of the side and that's unlikely to happen.
19 Nov 2025 14:38:44
I only remember Nunez dropping in effort in one game actually. Iirc correctly, it was the loss against Fulham. But other than that, his effort level and pressing has always been his strength.
But MKs point still stands. Diaz and Nunez were extremely hard working and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for them to help out in midfield or even defence occasionally. Salah was like that too when he was younger but I guess it was tactical to leave him up front the older he got. He now needs to return to how he was soreciously and track back. If he can't last the whole 90mins playing that way then we sub him out earlier when he begins to tire.
Trent was another player who allowed Salah to remain up front too. Teams were always wary of leaving too much space in behind their defence because of Trent's passing and usually don't press as hard. We saw last season when Trent was out injured that teams started to press more and Salah's form dipped. Tbh, I feel that Trent suited Slot's slow style a lot and he doesn't know how to set the team up without him now hence why we have seen Szob play there occasionally trying to replicate what Trent did.
19 Nov 2025 14:18:48
Rome1977, you kind of proved my point though by highlighting that. Trent only started 2 of our final 9 league games and missed the League Cup final. Diaz also only started 3 of our last 5 league games and the 2 he didn't play in we lost both games. Salah scored in 2 of the 3 games Diaz started, but failed to score at all in the 2 he did not start.
His end of season form fell apart basically after Trent came out of the team and then was exacerbated when Diaz came out of the team. As someone said above, Nunez had checked out by the second half of last season and wasn't even trying.
You're entitled to your opinion though mate. I'm not saying I'm definitely right and you're definitely wrong, but Salah ending last season poorly needs some context around it. a) he almost always tails off towards the end of every season b) Trent and Diaz weren't starting as frequently c) near enough the whole team was already on holiday for the last 5 or so games.
19 Nov 2025 14:19:44
Absolutely love Salah to bits. Right up there with some of the best players who ever wore the shirt of any era, however, I think we are seeing the beginning of the decline, he’s lost that extra yard of pace he used to have and I think his legs are going.
I think we are getting to the point where he will be phased out of the starting 11, that’s not a negative on him, just a reality that time waits for no one.
19 Nov 2025 14:52:49
I think it’s the change of tactics and players around him. I would definitely say the loss of Nunez and Diaz are factors too. Both may of been “crap” in some fans eyes but they did press and both very quick and always available.
19 Nov 2025 15:56:07
Without wishing to blow smoke, I always enjoy your posts, MK, whether I agree or not. My take on Salah is, if you are truly world class, which I believe Salah was, you shouldn't be dependent on players around you, you should be at the top of your game, regardless of who's playing around you.
19 Nov 2025 16:37:34
I tend to agree with @scouse john L8. Salah had Darwin, Szobo and Trent doing bits and lots of running (esp. with Darwin and Szobo) to get Salah open when being doubled up on in that right half space and that really helped him get goals and assists and most importantly, kept him fresh.
I think his form dipping had something to do with our form dipping as a team since last Feb. Also, teams started to play us differently which also affected collectively and as a by-product, Salah himself.
Love Salah to bits and he proved me wrong last season when I thought he had lost a step. That being said, his time here is waning and that is fine cos time is undefeated. I still think if we play to our strengths like we did vs Villa and RM, he can do better. He literally did better in both games, btw.
19 Nov 2025 20:35:12
For me the decline started a few years ago.
Last season was a bit of a blip, a second wind if you like.
He has been incredible. The number of games, the intensity of performance and the quality of performance. Almost unbelievable it’s lasted so long.
I think this is his last contract here and if we receive a decent offer then I think we should accept it.
19 Nov 2025 21:19:53
Ron, I hear your last point. However if Salah doesn't want to go then, there's nothing we can do. Just saying.
19 Nov 2025 23:39:44
He wants to see out his Career with us so why not let him? He’s been a great servant it’s his reward for no20. It’s not like it’s 2019 and we are going to get offered 100s of millions for him. Let it go he will turn it around.
20 Nov 2025 01:56:51
If he wants to stay then he will and a great example to our young players he would be.
I just think the club should accept a decent offer.
If he doesn’t want to go then he won’t, but he’ll probably want to be a regular starter rather than a bench warmer.
20 Nov 2025 11:23:27
Fairs, Ron.