Salah will decide Liverpool's season

Salah - Ảnh 1. — Salah apologizes to fans in victory over Frankfurt - Photo: Reuters

It may just be an act of sadness from the "Egyptian king". But it could also be a turning point for Liverpool in their troubled season.

Salah made things worse

Against Frankfurt, coach Arne Slot, after much advice from experts and fans, left Salah on the bench. As a result, Liverpool won 5-1, scoring all 5 goals before Salah entered the field in the 74th minute.

Was that enough to make Salah sad? Not yet. After entering the field, Salah missed a chance because of his greed for goals. When facing the opposing goalkeeper at a narrow shooting angle, and Florian Wirtz moving very freely, Salah chose to shoot instead of crossing for his teammate to tap the ball into the empty net.

The result was no goals, and Wirtz has yet to open his Liverpool goal account. Wirtz has somewhat eased the pressure by playing well and contributing 2 assists in this win. Everything would have been perfect if Salah had crossed for him to score.

In a split second, Salah missed the chance to smooth things over at Anfield. It was the pressure on Wirtz, the pressure on Salah himself, and the team atmosphere. Of course, football moments sometimes make people lose the right thinking, especially when Salah is 33 years old, struggling to keep up with the pace of his teammates.

But because of that, situations like that will appear more often this season. Salah and coach Slot are faced with a difficult choice mentally, but easy to predict professionally: Salah should not appear regularly in Liverpool's starting lineup anymore.

The choice lies with the "king of Egypt"

The sensible fans will not blame Salah if he plays poorly this season. A 33-year-old winger, who has shone for eight consecutive seasons with Liverpool, it is too difficult to continue his extraordinary journey in the Premier League.

But Salah then continued to create a very old problem in football. That is, when their time is over, the veterans still refuse to give up their starting position. More than anyone else, Salah's ego makes the problem more prominent.

Liverpool fans must not forget Salah's "trick" on the field, when he was benched by coach Jurgen Klopp at the end of the 2023-2024 season. After that season, he shone brightly to lead Liverpool to the championship. And the beneficiary was Arne Slot.

The unpredictability of the "Egyptian king" makes putting him on the bench a headache for every coach, from Klopp to Slot. Salah trains very hard, has been Liverpool's main explosive player for the past 8 years, and is very... greedy.

It is his big ego that has pushed Salah to constantly develop, rising from a good winger to become a unique superstar in the world of top football.

Under normal circumstances, Slot could continue to let Salah start with lower expectations than before. And gradually shift the leading role to other stars in the team.

But this is the season that Liverpool spent half a billion euros on the transfer market. With just three attacking stars Isak - Ekitike - Wirtz, it cost them more than 350 million euros. The fact that Salah keeps playing in the starting lineup with a decline in performance, while Wirtz and Ekitike are not allowed to play, is a huge waste.

More than ever, Salah's decision will shape the season for Liverpool. If he accepts to step back, Salah will still be the number 1 hero, one of the most respected stars in the history of the team. At the same time, it will put coach Slot and his teammates in a comfortable position.

And if it were the other way around? It would be like the moment Salah decided to shoot instead of passing to Wirtz against Frankfurt.

Unpredictable matches

Although round 8 of the Premier League does not have any big matches, it promises to be very unpredictable when strong teams face tough opponents.

At home, at 9pm on October 25, Chelsea will face a Sunderland team that has just been promoted but is playing extremely well. After 7 rounds, Sunderland is even ranked above Crystal Palace, Man United and Aston Villa.

At 11:30 p.m., Man United will host Brighton - their "big brother" for the past 3 years. In the last 8 encounters, Brighton won 6. And at 2 a.m. on October 26, Liverpool will meet Brentford, who are playing quite well.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/salah-se-quyet-dinh-mua-giai-cua-liverpool-2025102510395287.htm