Liverpool have not one chance but two to win a game of football this week. Albeit that makes up just half of the four-game losing run that has sent the Arne Slot project into a spin.
How fickle football is. Yesterday’s heroes are today’s villains, and Liverpool know they need to demonstrate sharply a return to form as their Premier League title defence crumbles before them.
This seems rather dramatic, but the Reds are beset with problems, alright, and their issues are illustrated clearly by the miserable statistic of 21 goals shipped in 2025/26. League leaders Arsenal, conversely, have conceded three times across all competitions.
The forwards aren’t really firing, either, not on all cylinders, and there’s a real acceptance now that Liverpool have far-reaching tactical imbalances despite the record-breaking summer of spending, and by Slot’s own admission, they do not have the answers.
What Liverpool and Slot and the supporters need to rise from this rut is a talisman, something to spearhead a charge through so many obstacles. Could that, once again, be Mohamed Salah?
Mohamed Salah's role this season
This has unquestionably been the most challenging period of Salah’s Liverpool career. The 33-year-old has looked a shadow of his usual self, facing heavy criticism for quiet and wasteful performances on the right wing.
Football’s fickleness casts last year’s incredible achievements into the background, and this is unfair. Salah carried Slot’s early project to the highest peak of English football, shattering records and scoring 29 goals and providing 18 assists across the Premier League season. Other avenues lift that haul higher still.
But, equally, we cannot shirk from the Egyptian’s struggles, having watched this legendary forward struggle against a tide. Four goals and three assists from 13 matches is shocking by Salah’s standards, but it’s the squandered chances and lack of fluidity which have beggared belief.
Still, if ever there was a man to return to form, it is him, and Salah’s consolation goal against Brentford last weekend served as a timely reminder of his greatness.
The £400k-per-week superstar will play his part again this year, to be sure, but Liverpool need a new leader.
Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak have been signed on to take the baton as goal-getters-in-chief, but there’s another player under Slot’s wing who is proving himself the talisman to drive a pathway out of this mess.
Liverpool's new version of Salah
If Liverpool’s current “crisis”, as Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher has defined it, is to abate in time to make this a successful season, it’s clear that leaders are needed in more than just the forward areas.
Virgil van Dijk has come under fire for his recent displays, but he remains the galvanising force in defence, barking across the field as the club’s captain.
But the man emerging as the new leading light is Dominik Szoboszlai, who has looked the Anfield side’s best player across a range of positions this term, which is equally impressive and concerning.
It’s been over two years since Szoboszlai, 25, moved from RB Leipzig to Merseyside for £60m, and from the get-go, he’s provided bundles of energy and tenacity.
Slot’s decision to pull him deeper has proved a successful one, as Szoboszlai is not naturally prolific in front of goal and this deeper berth gives rise to his many other qualities.
Said by analyst Raj Chohan to be “Liverpool’s best performer currently”, the Hungary captain has raised his game, maturing while sharpening his technical skill and developing his defensive game.
Matches (starts)
36 (29)
9 (9)
Goals
6
1
Assists
6
1
Touches*
46.1
86.2
Accurate passes*
29.6 (86%)
53.3 (86%)
Key passes*
1.6
1.4
Dribble (success)*
0.6 (55%)
0.8 (54%)
Recoveries*
3.7
6.2
Tackles + interceptions*
1.4
3.0
Clearances*
0.4
3.0
Duels (won)*
2.8 (43%)
4.7 (55%)
The data shows us that Szoboszlai has made headway this season, more robust and more complete than his hitherto level. His physicality and ability to direct and offer dynamism in the build-up is something that, say Alexis Mac Allister has failed to match, and in this, Szoboszlai is stretching head and shoulders above his teammates.
It seems quite likely that, when Liverpool stabilise, Szoboszlai will be able to take his game to the next level, still driving things forward but surrounded by a collective competency that is simply not there right now.
Football is unforgiving. You cannot ride the coattails of your club’s former successes, standing on the shoulders of giants, some of whom might even remain within the first-team squad.
Liverpool were always going to need a period of adaptation, it was clear this would be a transitional season, lacking the fluency and muscle-movement spark of 2024/25 as Slot grabbed and sustained the final embers of Jurgen Klopp’s legacy.
Szoboszlai has retained all that high-octane Klopp-tailored quality while moulding his game into something Slot-esque too. To put it another way, he is more complete than he has ever been, and he is far outstripping his struggling teammates.
Slot must devise a solution to this pit into which Liverpool have fallen. So many players across the field need to step up.
Szoboszlai cannot stand any higher than he already is, and if the Reds are to turn a corner, they will owe much to the Hungarian machine’s quality and verve and unbreakable spirit.