Liverpool needed a response after they were beaten in their own backyard by Manchester United at the weekend, thus condemning Arne Slot to three successive Premier League defeats.
And reply they did against Eintracht Frankfurt, winning 5-1 in the Champions League to end the losing run and turn toward a weekend trip to Brentford with fresh optimism
It was a rip-roaring attacking display. Defensive fragilities remain, but there are promising signs for Slot and co to grab onto and develop.
But for Mohamed Salah, the win in Germany was one of strife on an individual level. Left out of the starting line-up for the second Champions League match in a row, he entered late on and failed to get in on the action, finishing tamely when the opening was there to play Florian Wirtz in for a tap-in, thus handing the new recruit his first goal in red.
Salah's struggles continue
Salah has for so long been the indomitable hero at the front of Liverpool’s success. But this season, the 33-year-old is struggling, having scored only three times across 12 matches, and with no contributions across his past five.
Everyone anticipates his revival, but Liverpool’s win over Frankfurt came without the veteran in the starting line-up, and pointed toward a future beyond the legendary winger’s presence.
Last season, the Egyptian legend scored 34 goals and assisted 23 more across all competitions. He was the leading force of Slot’s title charge and won the full gamut of individual accolades.
The drop-off has been stark, and though Salah wasn’t performing with his same gusto and athleticism last season, he was sharper than ever and incredibly prolific. That wellspring has dried up, and it’s uncharted territory.
Goals
0.77
0.25
Assists
0.48
0.25
Shots taken
3.23
1.77
Shot-creating actions
4.51
2.65
Touches (att pen)
9.50
5.30
Pass completion (%)
70.6
69.0
Progressive passes
3.84
3.28
Progressive carries
4.14
3.16
Successful take-ons
1.55
0.13
Ball recoveries
2.70
3.16
There is the fact that Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak’s respective arrivals have reshaped Salah’s role somewhat, with the elite marksmen commanding the box as Darwin Nunez and, in a makeshift role, Luis Diaz did not last season.
Salah is getting old. While he is still underperforming the expected level, the £400k-per-week superstar is entering the autumn of his glittering Premier League career.
And, with this in mind, Liverpool will need to identify a new proverbial talisman. Perhaps they already have.
Liverpool's new version of Salah
Salah will forever be remembered as one of the most iconic forwards in Liverpool’s history. He is one of the greatest Premier League players of all time.
It is only October, and the clinical winger will surely find form again soon, but there’s a sense he might struggle to outscore Ekitike, who looks every bit the perfect successor as Liverpool’s new star forward, even when pitted against a phenomenon like Isak.
Liverpool signed the 23-year-old Frenchman from Frankfurt this summer for an initial £69m fee, and he netted on his return to Die Roten this week to make it six goals (and an assist) for Slot’s side this year.
He’s brilliant. Ekitike is a deadly finisher, but he’s also so much more than that, with journalist Peter Bolster putting it perfectly.
The Liverpool writer said, “Ekitike’s got the pace of Torres, the touch of Crouch, the flair of Sturridge and the intelligence of Firmino.”
That’s quite a player, and it’s indeed fair to suggest that Liverpool’s slick striker may well be undroppable right now, especially when considering he started from the bench as the Red Devils struck a shocking blow against the Premier League champions last year.
With the rangy forward also ranking among the top 13% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past 12 months for shot-creating actions and the top 3% for successful take-ons per 90 (as per FBref), it’s clear that the aforementioned Bolster’s effusions might just have some substance.
A successful take-on is recorded when a player beats their opponent by directly carrying the ball past them while retaining possession.
His rapid running, seamless link-up play and silky movements around the final third all emphasise the calibre of talent Liverpool have signed, and like Salah before him, he is resurgent after previously falling by the wayside for a top European outfit.
Salah flopped at Chelsea. This is well-documented. But Ekitike, too, has tasted regret for a superpower, having left Reims for Paris Saint-Germain at the start of his career only to score four goals across 33 matches before being shipped out to Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
There he made his name and was tutored into the player he is today. It is a similarity he shares with Salah, and he is a better player because of it.
Salah is too much of a world-class sensation to not rediscover his goalscoring form in the coming months, and with a player like Ekitike beside him, a stunning partnership could be forged to maintain the African’s levels across the final two years of his illustrious career in English football.
But Ekitike is coming for the crown. Few expected this would be so when Isak completed his British record move from Newcastle United to Merseyside, but the Sweden international has his work cut out if he is to shift ahead and stand as Liverpool’s star striker.
Perhaps the most exciting part is that Ekitike is only going to get better and better. Without a doubt, he has what it takes to take the baton from Salah’s hands when that rueful day comes.