Liverpool plight: Selfish Salah and injured Isak

Troubles in paradise? Arsenal and Manchester United fans are having a field day with Liverpool‘s problems in recent month. Luckily for the Reds fans, their team managed to activate a 73-year old bad record of five consecutive losses as they won in Frankfurt more than comfortably (1-5). Florian Wirtz finally participated in goal with two assists but that‘s all the positives coach Arne Slot can take from this game. Everything else is not so good. Let‘s start with injuries.

Is Salah’s absence the key? Liverpool with five unleash fury on Eintracht

Last season, Liverpool almost didn‘t have any injuries, a fact which certainly helped in their Premier League title bid. But this season it‘s the opposite. After spending around a month on the bench due to injury, Jeremy Frimpong got injured again last night. He felt a pain in his hamstring and had to leave the game after only 19 minutes. He joins Ryan Gravenberch, suffering with an ankle injury, on the sidelines for the Reds. But that‘s not all. A 125 million pounds striker Alexander Isak was subbed at halftime due to groin injury.

“Alex was well prepared to play but the margins are small, I am hoping this is not this bad. If he would be out for a few weeks that would throw him back. Isak had to go off at half-time because he felt his groin a little bit. That's a pity. It’s such a difficult balance to find with a player who has missed three months, you bring him slowly. People argue to play him longer. Now we play him for the second time in three days and he has to go off, let’s hope for the best“ said the Dutch coach.

"If you lose four times in a row, you need to be concerned," admits Slot

Slot sounds optimistic but everybody knows that Isak‘s injury record priot to his Liverpool move was a concern. Since joining Newcastle in 2022, the Swedish striker has missed as many as 39 games for club and country in just three seasons. During his first campaign with the Magpies, a knee injury forced him to miss 18 matches. There have been repeated smaller knocks since which have totaled up to a further 21 games misses through injury. Last season was Isak's most reliable season when it comes to availability, which is certainly a positive sign, but what will happen in Liverpool is anybody‘s guess. But Slot has an even bigger problem now – Mohamed Salah.

It's time for Mo Salah to be benched

The Egyptian is not anywhere near his last year‘s level and it is very visible. Has gone seven consecutive Premier League appearances without scoring a non-penalty goal for the very first time in his Liverpool career and Slot decided to leave him on the bench for the Frankfurt game. When he eventually came on, he had a great opportunity to assist to Wirtz, who was all alone and waited for the ball to score his first goal, but Salah took a shot instead. He got rosted by Liverpool fans on social media after the game, while the cameras caught something else: he stormed down the tunnel shortly after hearing the final whistle. He is clearly not happy for being benched and the next test will be the Premier League game against Brentford.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 3

Thursday

19.45: (1.90) Braga (3.50) Crvena Zvezda (4.10)

19.45: (2.25) Brann (3.45) Rangers (3.15)

19.45: (5.50) FCSB (3.70) Bologna (1.67)

19.45: (2.30) Fenerbahce (3.50) Stuttgart (3.00)

19.45: (1.63) Feyenoord (4.10) Panathinaikos (5.25)

19.45: (3.10) Genk (3.40) Betis (2.30)

19.45: (6.50) Go Ahead (4.30) Aston Villa (1.50)

19.45: (1.63) Olympique Lyon (3.90) Basel (5.50)

19.45: (1.98) Salzburg (3.50) Ferencvaros (3.80)

22.00: (2.00) Celta (3.50) Nice (3.80)

22.00: (1.55) Celtic (4.10) Sturm (6.00)

22.00: (1.57) Freiburg (4.00) Utrecht (6.00)

22.00: (1.62) Lille (3.80) PAOK (5.80)

22.00: (3.20) Maccabi T.A. (3.40) Midtjylland (2.25)

22.00: (3.15) Malmo (3.35) Dinamo Zagreb (2.30)

22.00: (2.50) Nott.Forest (3.35) Porto (2.85)

22.00: (1.38) Roma (4.80) Plzen (8.50)

22.00: (1.80) Young Boys (3.60) Ludogorets (4.60)

***odds are subject to change***