Former Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen has had his say on Mohamed Salah’s struggles at Liverpool this season. The Egyptian has struggled to hit anywhere near the heights of last season.
The Reds are looking to avoid a fifth straight defeat across all competitions when they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday night. And Slot has made the decision to drop Salah for the European clash in Germany.
Slot’s major call comes after Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher stated his belief that the forward is no longer an automatic starter for the Reds. Instead, Hugo Ekitike seems set to play in the right wing position Liverpool’s No.11 has made his own at Anfield since arriving on Merseyside in 2017.
And Meulensteen has delivered his verdict on what could be going wrong for the 33-year-old this season after enjoying a stunning 2024/2025 campaign where he scored 34 goals for Slot’s team. “I think the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold might be a factor [in Liverpool’s form] as players often build partnerships and connections, instinctively knowing where to pass the ball. I believe this understanding is crucial,” he said via CasinoHawks, who offer the latest online casinos.
“Florian Wirtz is another player who’s still finding his feet. He didn’t start against Man Utd, but played well when he came on. The front line simply needs to gel together. Cody Gakpo, who played well on Sunday, is still there, but Mo Salah seemed off.
“This was a bit strange, especially since he recently scored for Egypt in the World Cup qualifiers, helping them reach the World Cup, a significant achievement. However, there were moments yesterday [on Sunday vs Man Utd] where he didn’t seem like himself, like the missed shot near the goal.
“Technically, it was a complete misconnection, when normally he would open up his body and place it into the far corner.” While many will be speculating over the cause of Salah’s sudden decline, Meulensteen insists that there is no reason to panic.
He added: “Salah is an experienced player. In my opinion, we shouldn’t expend too much energy on it; like I said with Arne, just reassure and reinforce him.
“Last year, they found a good defensive role for Salah, while also giving him the freedom to hold certain positions from which Liverpool could quickly counter-attack. They executed this brilliantly. I think it’s a combination of so many young, new players settling in, and he’s just going through a bit of a poor spell at the moment, but he’ll come good. He hasn’t become a bad player overnight.”
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