Arne Slot is gearing up for his first season as Liverpool head coach, and it’s been suggested that he could implement an idea which’d have strong echoes of one of his Premier League peers.
Pep Guardiola has become renowed for his use of a ‘false 9‘ playing slightly deeper than a typical centre-forward, having famously utilised Lionel Messi in that role at Barcelona and done likewise with Phil Foden for Manchester City.
As per Sam Smith for the Daily Express, the new LFC boss’ tactics at Feyenoord may suggest that Mo Salah will be given a similar task at Anfield over the coming campaign, with the 32-year-old no longer possessing the searing pace which so often enabled him to cut inside from the right flank before scoring.
Slot often used pacy wingers high up the pitch at De Kuip and could do likewise at Liverpool, with a potential positional shift for the Egyptian maybe facilitating that system.
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Salah was used in a central role during Liverpool’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Preston last week, and we could well see him adopt a similar position in the Reds’ three matches in the USA over the next fortnight.
The Egyptian is no stranger to playing through the middle rather than out wide at Anfield, although that hasn’t happened on a regular basis since the 2018/19 season (Transfermarkt).
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As Smith outlined in the Daily Express, he could fit into Slot’s LFC team in a similar guise to Bobby Firmino under Jurgen Klopp, with the Brazilian’s exceptional hold-up play frequently helping to get the best out of the man who took over the number 11 shirt on Merseyside.
Foden excelled as a false 9 after Guardiola’s initial experiement with him in that position during the run-in to the 2021/22 campaign, and he was also used centrally to devastating effect in some instances last term, including the 4-1 thrashing of Aston Villa in which he plundered a hat-trick.
Will we see Salah utiliised in a similar capacity at Liverpool over the coming months? We should soon get a fairly strong hint towards the eventual answer during our pre-season games across the Atlantic…
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