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Following a lackluster outing that ended with a crucial late penalty goal against Burnley last autumn, Liverpool manager Arne Slot was asked whether he would ever consider substituting his star player, Mo Salah. While Slot tried to dodge the question, he ultimately admitted it was a challenging decision to make.
“He might always give you something, like he did today,” Slot commented.
Fast forward several months and a significant disagreement later, the situation has evolved. Amid the discussions surrounding Liverpool’s dramatic late goals at Nottingham Forest—of which only one counted—many overlooked Slot’s strategic move to substitute Salah with 13 minutes remaining, a decision that ultimately contributed to Liverpool’s victory.
In the second half, Salah appeared to struggle, his movements sluggish and seemingly disengaged. After a particularly apathetic run down the right flank, Slot decided it was time for a change and took him off the field.
Mohamed Salah is substituted for Liverpool on Sunday – after he hardly seemed to be trying
Salah left the pitch with a smile that hinted at a future reckoning, leaving fans and analysts alike to speculate on how this decision will impact the team dynamics in the coming weeks.
Slot got it right, though. Salah’s replacement – young Rio Ngumoha – did more in quarter of an hour than Salah had done previously and his influence undoubtedly helped Liverpool develop the late momentum that won them the three points.
Jamie Carragher – a former Liverpool captain – called it right on Sky afterwards when he cited Ngumoha’s impact and went on to say that the 17-year-old must now be invited to start games.
If it were that simple then Slot’s life would be easier. But he is known to worry about exposing such a young player to too much too soon.
Just as he doesn’t believe his other attacking back-up option Federico Chiesa to be good enough, he doesn’t really think that Ngumoha is quite ready for regular football.
And can he really afford to take Salah out of his starting team? The last time he did that, Salah almost blew the roof off Anfield with his comments after a December draw at Leeds.
With Liverpool’s season currently teetering on a line between failure and something more positive, another outbreak of civil war is the last thing anybody at Anfield needs.
Jamie Carragher wants to see Rio Ngumoha start more games – but it’s not quite so easy
Rosenior talking his way to troubleÂ
Liam Rosenior has a reputation in football as a really good coach but whether we ever get to see any of that at Chelsea remains to be seen.
Rosenior is eminently quotable but currently that’s something that is in danger of serving the media better than it is him.
Saturday’s home draw with Burnley was a pretty dismal affair for Chelsea with Scott Parker’s Championship-bound side actually registering more attempts on goal.
Afterwards Rosenior was colourfully critical of his team’s defending, saying somebody had missed an ‘assignment’ as Burnley’s Zian Flemming headed in unmarked from an injury-time corner.
Rosenior said it was not his intention to ‘throw my players under the bus’ but that is exactly how his words will have been received in the dressing room at Stamford Bridge.
Three things threaten Rosenior in terms of his longevity in west London.
The fact he hasn’t yet picked the same back four for any of his six Premier League games in charge, the prospect of giving Champions League qualification away to the distinctly average Manchester United and Liverpool and indeed his newly-developed penchant for calling out his players.
It’s worth remembering here that when that exit door starts to revolve at Chelsea, it’s not usually the players who are seen walking through it.
As such, Rosenior should be very careful.
Liam Rosenior has chopped and changed his back four and is at risk in his role at Chelsea
What happened to 90 minutes of football?Â
Remember when football matches used to start at 3pm on a Saturday and be over by 4.45pm? I do but it’s beginning to feel a little bit like a faded memory.
Yesterday’s North London derby kicked off at 4.30pm and eventually wound up at 6.37pm. Back when VAR and the rest of it was just being talked about, I warned that we were in danger of creating a world where nobody ever got to go home in time for their dinner and here we are.
Yesterday’s delay was caused in part by two bouts of trouble with the match referee’s intercom and Sky in-game analyst Gary Neville was right to be incandescent.
‘We played football for a hundred years without all this kit,’ Neville raged.
‘The whole crowd is waiting for the game to restart because of what is essentially an IT problem. It’s ridiculous.’
Neville spoke for all of us in that moment. It helps if the referee can chat remotely to his assistants but it’s not fundamental. They have flags. Wave them!
Look out for the latest set-piece trendÂ
With a quarter of the season to go, it seems we have a new training-ground trick.
Twice on Saturday, attacking players were called offside when heading for goal only for the replays to show skullduggery had been at work.
Dan Burn had a goal disallowed for Newcastle at Manchester City while Ashley Barnes was flagged after heading just over for Burnley at Chelsea.
On both occasions, though, they were seen to have been shoved into offside positions by the players detailed to mark them.
Clever or just another step in the gutter for Premier League standards of fair play? You can decide.
I am just happy that finally somebody other than Arsenal has come up with something new at a set piece.
Dan Burn scores against Manchester City to make it 2-2… but it was disallowed
Le Bris out in front for manager of the yearÂ
With 11 games of the top-flight season left, it’s time to start the conversation for manager of the year.
The usual contenders are in the mix – Mikel Arteta and Unai Emery for example – while Pep Guardiola currently has Manchester City in four competitions.
But for me the leading contenders come from the lesser lights this season.
His team may have lost a couple of games recently but Regis Le Bris at Sunderland is currently out in front for me. Let’s face it, nobody gave the Black Cats a chance at the start of the campaign.Â
We also have to talk about Keith Andrews at Brentford and Daniel Farke at Leeds United.
Much to play for yet but my 1, 2, 3 currently reads Le Bris, Andrews, Arteta. And votes for Michael Carrick are not allowed – not yet anyway.
Regis Le Bris (right) is one of the leading contenders to be named Manager of the Year
Why would Silva choose Forest?Â
There is a feeling among those who know him that the end game for Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is to hire Fulham manager Marco Silva when his contract at Fulham expires at the end of the season.
The attraction for Forest is clear. Silva is 48 now and has seven years of progressive Premier League experience behind him after his spells at Hull, Watford, Everton and now at Craven Cottage.
But why would Silva really want to leave Fulham for basket case Forest?
The Portuguese has always been high maintenance and is known to be frustrated at the way his current club have chosen to approach life in the transfer market over the last couple of years.
But Fulham are a well-run and established top-flight football club and Sunday’s win at Sunderland took them back into the top half of the table.Â
Silva knows Marinakis from their brief spell working for him at Olympiakos. Indeed he won the title there after succeeding current Forest boss Vitor Pereira.
So he knows all about the Forest owner’s idiosyncrasies. Surely that would only serve to make him look elsewhere…
Glasner victim complex so tiresomeÂ
Still in London, the Crystal Palace job will be up at the end of the season as Oliver Glasner prepares to take his ball home and go and work for a club keen to put up with his unique brand of self-interest and indeed his victim complex.
Never has a manager moaned so often and for so long about so many things and it’s no wonder that Palace fans made their feelings known through some freshly painted banners before their squeaky win over bottom-placed Wolves yesterday.
Palace chairman Steve Parish has sometimes said and done things that I have not always agreed with.
But nobody can ever accuse Parish of not having the best interests of his football club front and central. Can we really say the same about his current manager? I am not so sure.
Glasner has made it his mission this season to complain about the lack of backing afforded him in the market but it was the Austrian who came out of last season’s FA Cup triumph with the clear intention of not extending a contract due to expire at the end of the current campaign.
If Palace have been keeping their financial powder dry for a manager who may wish to hang around a bit longer and not use them as a stepping stone then it’s hard to blame them.
If I were Parish I would invite Glasner to take his leave three months early and offer the job to Thomas Frank before somebody else snaps him up.
At last the No 9s are hereÂ
We thought this season would herald the return of the No 9 as several of the Premier League’s big clubs signed big centre forwards but it’s perhaps taken until now for a couple of them to start playing like one.
Guardiola was right to point to a fabulous Erling Haaland performance as City beat Newcastle on Saturday evening and it was a theme picked up on and developed well by Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards on Match of the Day.
Haaland didn’t score but his all-round contribution, movement and hold-up play was of a standard we haven’t often seen before. There has clearly been some activity on the City training ground.
In the north London derby, meanwhile, Viktor Gyokeres came of age in an Arsenal shirt with perhaps his best performance for the club he joined last summer. The two goals Gyokeres scored were expertly taken but what about the little toe poke round the corner that set his team on their way to scoring their decisive third goal?
Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a difference and that was one of them. Fantastic.
Erling Haaland was excellent for Man City while Viktor Gyokeres came of age for Arsenal
Barnes wasting his time with EnglandÂ
Fascinating to see Anthony Gordon finding a new lease of life in a freer role at the top of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle formation. The England player currently looks as dangerous as he has since perhaps his first season on Tyneside.
It’s hard to be as positive about the equally talented Harvey Barnes, however.
Twelve of Barnes’ 26 Premier League appearances this season have come from the bench and Anthony Elanga was given the other berth in Newcastle’s front three along with Gordon and Nick Woltemade on Saturday.
All of which makes me surprised Barnes turned down recent overtures to represent Scotland. At 29, it feels as though the call to play competitively for England isn’t going to come. Barnes has played once for England – as a substitute in a friendly against Wales in 2020 – and qualifies for Scotland through a grandmother.