West Ham United left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf must have been licking his lips in anticipation when watching Mo Salah toil during Liverpool’s 4-1 Champions League defeat by PSV Eindhoven in midweek.
Eredivisie leaders PSV brutally exposed Liverpool’s weaknesses as they became the third team in a row to beat Arne Slot’s side by a three-goal margin.
The Guus Til strike which put the visitors 2-1 up early in the second-half, meanwhile, felt particularly damning. Not only for Slot’s ramshackle backline, but also for their hitherto evergreen talisman.
Mauro Junior, lining up at left-back for PSV, effortlessly galloped away from an ambling Mo Salah before whipping his cross into Til’s path.
Much has been made of Salah’s poor form in front of goal. He had only five goals in 18 matches before travelling to West Ham United on Sunday.
But an energetic PSV side also shone a very harsh light on the defensive weaknesses Salah’s involvement tends to create. So El Hadji Malick Diouf, one of the quickest and most dynamic left-backs in the league, would surely have been relishing the chance to stride into the wide open plains in behind Liverpool’s now-33-year-old, and fast-fading, right-winger.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot put plans in place to deal with West Ham United’s Malick Diouf
Does this explain why the manager made the surprising but probably-justified decision to remove Salah from his starting line-up? This was the first time in the entire Slot era that the Egyptian had been left on the bench for a Premier League match.
And when discussing the reason with the official Liverpool website, the Slot indicated that Salah’s omission had a lot to do with Diouf’s attacking qualities.
“I get this question already a lot. It’s every time we play a game when I don’t play Florian Wirtz, when I don’t play Alexander Isak, when I don’t play Hugo Ekitike, when I don’t play Mo Salah,” Slot began, before offering a peek behind the tactical curtain.
“[This] is normal, because they’re all outstanding players, and Mo has had an unbelievable career here at this club and will have a very good future at this club because he’s such a special player.
“Four games in ten days with only 14 to 15 outfield players available for us, then you have to decide once in a while to make a certain line-up and you try to pick the best line-up for every single game.
“Today, with the way [West Ham] set up, with a full-back [Diouf] that is constantly very high and a winger that is constantly inside, I thought this could help the team.”
Nuno Espirito Santo tries to see the positves after another London Stadium loss
In Salah’s absence, Cody Gakpo provided a goal and an assist, while Florian Wirtz produced one of his better performances. The recalled Soungoutou Magassa struggled to deal with Wirtz and co, the mercurial German darting in behind and exposing the Frenchman’s occasionally poor positioning.
As for Diouf, opportunities to break forward were few and far between as Liverpool dominated the ball.
While Jarrod Bowen is on a seven-game goal drought and Callum Wilson mustered only 15 touches against the Reds, that Diouf has now gone eight matches without an assist is another worrying statistic to add to the collection.
From three in five matches under Graham Potter, to none since the end of September under Nuno.
“We got in behind and we created spaces, but the accuracy of the final pass, cross or shot just wasn’t there,” Nuno said.
“We should have done better, but we were in control. [Isak’s opener] comes from a throw-in, and we should be more aggressive in the box. But, until the end, we kept fighting and we kept believing.
“We had a good chance, and I have nothing to say about the effort or desire that the boys put into the game.
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