Mohamed Salah’s return to Liverpool has been dominating headlines ahead of the Champions League trip to Marseille this midweek.
Although the Reds have stopped losing while their Egyptian King has been away at the Africa Cup of Nations, their performances without him have hardly been inspiring.
Certainly, if Arne Slot was hoping that Liverpool would kick on and rocket into a post-Salah world, then they have failed badly in that remit.
What’s Liverpool’s best front three now that Salah’s back?
With Florian Wirtz in the 10 🔥
Upon his exit for AFCON, the conversation around Salah was all about whether he would still have a spot at Liverpool when he came back.
Injury to Alexander Isak has made that discussion rather redundant, and it is clear that Liverpool need Salah once again. As a result, it would be a surprise if Slot left the 33-year-old out consistently again. Nevertheless, there is still a debate to be had over what Liverpool’s front three looks like with Salah in it. Thankfully, Micah Richards has come up with an answer which Slot should be listening to.
No room for Cody Gakpo in Liverpool’s new-look attack
With Salah back and Isak still likely to be missing for some time, Slot can finally start to plan what his attack should be for the foreseeable future.
Happily, the two players who have really pushed on while Salah has been away have been Liverpool’s two other big-money signings from last summer: Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.
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Ekitike and Wirtz simply have to start for Liverpool, and with Cody Gakpo badly out of form on the left of the attack, Richards thinks it is the Dutch attacker who will make way for Salah.
“Salah’s got to start,” the pundit said on The Rest Is Football. “I know he’s played Frimpong wide right, but Salah’s got to start. He’ll come back hungry and he did really well at AFCON as well.
“Maybe Wirtz off the left but coming in, Ekitike’s going to play and they have to play Salah. I think they’ve actually missed him at times. Wirtz high left, probably with form they’ll play him more than Gakpo. Szoboszlai, Gravenberch and Mac Allister in midfield, that’s probably what they’ll go. I think so anyway.”
How much are Liverpool missing Alexander Isak?
They created plenty vs Burnley…
Is there an alternative for Arne Slot?
On form, it is absolutely right that Gakpo should be the one to miss out of Liverpool’s new-look front three. The 26-year-old has been poor throughout the season.
However, there is still a nagging feeling that Liverpool will not get the very best out of Wirtz by playing him from the left.
As a result, it would not be a huge surprise to see Slot stick with Gakpo on the left and instead sacrifice one of his midfield three to make room for Wirtz.
Although that will potentially weaken Liverpool defensively, it will make them potent in attack, which is something they have been badly missing of late.
Slot could of course stick to his guns and leave Salah out as well, potentially moving Wirtz onto the right, or keeping with Frimpong and playing Joe Gomez at right-back. With the options Liverpool have available, however, that would feel like a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face.
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