Liverpool boss Arne Slot has heaped praise on Mohamed Salah for his defensive work rate in recent games. He said that it was great to see the Egyptian get on the scoresheet, but added that helping his teammates was more crucial.
Arne Slot lavishes praise on Mohamed Salah
Interacting with the media following the win against Brighton in the FA Cup, Slot said that Liverpool struggled in the defense at the start of the season, and Salah has understood his role. He expects the forward to continue his good performances and said:
"It's very nice to have him on the scoresheet again and him having an assist. But I think what I like the most at the moment, that he's scoring goals is something you can almost expect, but he also helps the team a lot defensively. That is something very positive – what the team also needs – and I think more and more players are now capable of playing at this intensity level every three days."
"That is where we struggled a lot in the beginning of the season, where it was sometimes hard for us to bring the intensity level once a week, let alone every three days. But now we're able to do so, we see more and more the quality we have. That's why I've said so many times already that the future looks really bright for this club with these players, and I think the recent seven, eight, nine, 10 games are showing that as well."
Mohamed Salah's impactful performance
Salah produced an assist in the game and scored the penalty spot to help Liverpool win 3-0 and secure a spot in the fifth round.
Arne Slot reacts on VAR
Liverpool manager Arne Slot has admitted that he is not a fan of VAR, but wishes it to be used for clear and obvious errors. He added he likes watching the game without VAR and said:
"In general, I enjoy watching football without VAR because if you then score you're like, 'It's a goal' so that was the same with the [disallowed Gakpo goal]. I looked at the linesman and he didn't raise his flag so I was like, 'That's nice' but then a few seconds later he did raise his flag, which was correct because he was offside and they also explained to me that he wanted to know who scored, the moment he heard it was Cody he said then he's offside, so a fair and good decision. I like VAR only for the clear and obvious things."
Liverpool had a goal disallowed as the linesman flagged Rio Ngumoha despite the young player being onside.