Arne Slot defends Mohamed Salah with brutal put-down of Liverpool attackers Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo

Egyptian superstar Salah hit 34 goals for Liverpool across all competitions last season, helping to deliver Premier League title glory alongside PFA Player of the Year and Golden Boot honours. A two-year extension to his contract, through to 2027, was agreed.

The 2025-26 season has been a testing one for all concerned at Anfield, with surprising struggles for consistency - on the back of a record-shattering spending spree - leading to uncomfortable questions being asked of those on and off the field.

Salah has faced plenty of those, leading to an emotional outburst in December, and he has failed to find the target in a Premier League fixture since November 1. The 33-year-old does, however, retain the full support of a manager that took to benching him earlier in the season.

Slot has said of Salah enduring an apparent dip in the remarkable standards that have been set across nine years on Merseyside: “He set his own standards and they are so, so, so high the moment he doesn't score for a few games, people are surprised, so that is the big compliment. If you use the FA Cup, even though it is a Premier League side [he scored against]. Three games ago he had an assist and a goal against a Premier League side, Brighton, a very good Premier League team, so that is the reality. You can change data and say it's no goal in nine PL games and that is the standard he set.”

Slot added on Salah’s performances, with Dutch winger Gakpo going seven games without a goal and French frontman Ekitike failing to trouble the scorers in his last four appearances: “I think I should go really detailed into performances and this is not the time and place to do it here. 

“Mo we are used to scoring goals. We also know, even in my time, it has happened, I've had questions about Mo not scoring for three or four games but he always scores again. He is not our only attacker who doesn't score as much as he was used to. It is not that the focus should be all on him, Hugo and Cody haven't either, so it is a team thing. But we keep clean sheets, so they don't need to score as many. We scored six versus Qarabag and four against Newcastle.”

Liverpool are confident that Salah will play his way back into form, with a modern day legend having enough credit in the bank to ensure that a minor wobble can be glossed over. Ekitike has also impressed since completing an £82 million ($110m) transfer in the summer of 2025, with his debut campaign at Anfield delivering 15 goals.

The 23-year-old is aware of supposed flaws in his game and is working towards fixing those. Slot said of the France international needing to work on his aerial ability for somebody that stands at six feet, three inches tall: “It's true that when I played - a long time ago - we probably had a ball hanging on a rope and we headed it to work on a technique. It's isolated, not used now. 

“We are noticing this, as Hugo is, so we try to work on it. Not every day but it's a part of his game and he also wants to develop because he could have scored a few more goals. Being 22, 23, it's normal there are parts of your game you can improve.”

Liverpool, who sit sixth in the Premier League table at present and have been paired with Galatasaray in the last 16 of the Champions League, will be hoping to get back in the goal-scoring groove when playing host to West Ham on Saturday.