Alan Shearer has ‘noticed’ something about Salah in recent games that Arne Slot also highlighted

Alan Shearer has echoed a comment made by Arne Slot regarding Mo Salah following Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Brighton at the weekend.

Much like this team as a whole, the Egyptian enjoyed one of his best performances of the season on Saturday night as he teed up Dominik Szoboszlai to score a show-stopping goal and later netted from the penalty spot as the Reds advanced to round five of the FA Cup.

Speaking to reporters after the match, the LFC head coach stressed that what he actually liked most about the winger’s display against the Seagulls was how he ‘helps the team a lot defensively‘, and the 47-year-old isn’t alone in praising that aspect of Salah’s game.

Shearer echoes Slot’s comments about Salah’s work rate

Shearer joined Gary Lineker and Micah Richards in reviewing the weekend’s FA Cup action on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football, and he concurred with Slot’s remarks about the forward’s work rate out of possession.

The ex-Newcastle striker said: “Did you hear Arne Slot in his interview? I was watching that game on the way home and I listened to Arne Slot afterwards.

“He went out of his way to praise Mo Salah’s work defensively, which I’d noticed in the last couple of games where he’s doing a lot more work defensively than I’d seen him do for a while.”

Salah is answering critics of his work rate off the ball

One of the aspects for which Salah has come under fire this season is his work rate off the ball, with Didi Hamann savaging the 33-year-old for not tracking back for one of the four goals that PSV Eindhoven scored at Anfield in November.

Wayne Rooney was similarly critical of the winger for not helping out Conor Bradley in the defeat to Manchester City earlier that month, but while those observations were legitimate, the Egyptian has unquestionably been contributing more when out of possession in recent weeks.

As highlighted by James Pearce for The Athletic, Liverpool’s number 11 has been winning the ball more frequently since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations (3.5 times per 90 minutes, comapred to 2.7 before the tournament), a significant increase which has rightly been noticed by Shearer and Slot.

The Reds are indisputably a much more dangerous team with Salah at his best, and while that hasn’t been the case in this campaign, his performance against Brighton on Saturday reminded us of what he’s capable of producing when operating close to his optimum level.

Plenty has been made about his vastly reduced goal output his season, but a return of four assists in his last six games shows that he’s been contributing greatly in terms of setting up his teammates to score.

If he can get back to somewhere near his best goaslcoring form while also continuing to work hard out of possession, the 33-year-old could yet inspire Liverpool towards a top-four finish and/or a trophy to end the campaign.