A growing tactical debate is surrounding Liverpool that revolves not around Mohamed Salah’s form but the structural flaws that his role of prescribed actions are highlighting in Arne Slot's system.
The situation became acute when Liverpool lost to Chelsea 2-1, with the latter focusing on the right wing, as they were aware that Salah remained high in the attack to spearhead their attack, and they took advantage of that.
This well-planned tactic, which was validated by the Chelsea Marc Cucurella, resulted in their late goal.
The essence of this issue lies in the club's structure. Although instructing Salah to conserve energy for an attack is a valid tactical choice previously implemented by many top clubs, the mechanism to cover for him appears to be broken.
Whether it’s Conor Bradley or a midfielder like Dominik Szoboszlai, the players on the right side of the field are constantly in 2-v-1 positions, which creates the same vulnerability against elite opponents.
This has split fan opinion. Although there are those who defend the Egyptian king, there are increasing numbers of frustrated followers who demand that he be dropped saying that his current performance, which has yielded only two goals in the Premier League this season, is not worth the defensive instability.
Pundits, however, point out that the fault is not so much with Salah as it is with the team's overall arrangement.
The riots that occurred against Chelsea where Liverpool could not control the flow of the game, cite a bigger problem of balance.
The midfielders are finding it hard to move across fast enough leaving the center with dangerous gaps in the process of attempting to cover the flank.
In the case of Slot, the dilemma is evident; he has to either re-tune his whole system to have a better security of the right side or re-examine what Salah told him. The team is only a point away at the summit with this weakness, and this could be the solution to their season turnaround.
