Slot: “Nice” to see Salah score

Slot: “Nice” to see Salah score

Liverpool’s FA Cup victory over Brighton by three goals is a much-needed outcome in light of the club’s turbulent season.

And, while fans have every right to be skeptical of improvement given the team’s lack of consistency in Premier League play, perhaps beating a Premier League team—after being the first team to beat Sunderland at home in the league—will give people a little more hope.

Good feelings, it turns out, are much easier to have when you score three goals, keep a clean sheet, and get some primetime performances from players who may have been underperforming for the majority of the season.

And, in reality, there were no poor performances on the Anfield pitch. To a man, Liverpool completely dominated Fabian Hurzeler’s charges in what felt like a lopsided victory.

Arne Slot’s post-match comments were enthusiastic, if characteristically direct. Perhaps the most noteworthy set of statements came in relation to Mohamed Salah, when the Dutchman praised not only Salah’s offensive contributions but also his willingness to assist in defense.

“It’s great to see [Salah] scoring again and assisting. But I think what I enjoy best about him right now is that he not only scores goals, but he also contributes significantly to the team’s defensive efforts.

That is really positive—something the team also requires—and I believe that more and more players are now capable of playing at this level every three days.

That was where we suffered the most in the beginning of the season, when it was difficult for us to maintain the effort level once a week, let alone every three days.

But now that we can, we’re seeing more and more of our own qualities.

That’s why I’ve stated so many times that the future of this club looks very bright with these players, and I believe the last seven, eight, nine, and ten games have demonstrated that as well.”

It’s a small peek behind the curtain, but it was evident that Slot’s tactical decision to relieve Mo of some defensive duties last season was contributing to some of the structural issues during the lull in October and November.

While the team has still not entirely recovered, the last few games have looked significantly better, not only in terms of results but also in terms of appearance.

Liverpool appear to have an understanding on offense and, while far from faultless, have managed to avoid looking like a total farce at the back despite what can be charitably described as a right-back crisis.

Diagnosing faults in football is challenging since the game is so fluid, with each player influencing numerous facets of the general flow. So we can’t blame Mo for all of the early-season troubles.

However, watching the team regain some sort of control at the. Liverpool’s upward trend has been helped by the return of Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, and Florian Wirtz.

In fact, the Hungarian left-back appears to have completely turned things around, as he put in a Player of the Match performance, which is impressive given how talented the entire group is.

Liverpool is in a terrific place right now, but they need to keep stringing together performances like this to undo the cynicism gained during their early-season collapse and overcome the hole that those losses have dug for the Reds.

Liverpool are vying for a Champions League spot and will need to play flawlessly over the next two and a half months to remain in contention.

Here’s hoping that passing two relatively difficult tests will help the team finally get into gear.