Didi Hamann has urged Arne Slot to drop Mohamed Salah after his ‘disgraceful’ lack of effort in Liverpool’s worrying 4-1 loss to PSV.
Wednesday’s home defeat in the Champions League means Liverpool have now been beaten in nine of their last 12 matches across all competitions.
Salah’s form has been particularly poor with the Egyptian failing to register a goal or an assist in Liverpool’s last four Champions League games.
But it was the 33-year-old attacker’s lack of defending over PSV’s second goal at Anfield which has really angered former Liverpool star Hamann.
PSV star Mauro Junior took the ball past Salah just inside his own half but the Liverpool icon allowed him to carry the ball for 30 yards.
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The Dutch side then scored when Guus Till found the back of the net in the 56th minute.
After watching Salah’s performance, Hamann says Slot must drop the player for Liverpool’s next match, a trip to West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday, or the Dutch manager risks putting his own future at risk.
‘There comes a point when you’ve [got] to drop players,’ Hamann said on punditry duties for RTE Sport. ‘Even big players.
‘Slot has a decision to make, does he get the sack with Salah or keep his job without him?
‘What Salah did for that second PSV goal… I think Slot had one chance to take him off straight away – what he did there was disgraceful.
‘For a player the calibre of Salah. It pains me to say… but the way he let the player go past him without doing anything to help the team.’
Salah, widely regarded as one of the best players on the planet, shined last term with 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 Premier League games as Liverpool won the title in Slot’s first season as boss.
When Slot came in as head coach, he stripped away the defensive responsibilities Salah had under his former manager Jurgen Klopp.
It worked in the 2024-25 campaign but hasn’t been successful so far this term – with Liverpool and Salah himself massively struggling.
‘I don’t know how he (Slot) can keep watching the same thing and not change it,’ a second ex-Liverpool player, Danny Murphy, said this month.
‘And it’s not like Salah can’t do the running, he hasn’t asked him to see if he can. He doesn’t have to do it every single time, but he has spent so long not doing it.
‘Last season, Salah came out and said he was enjoying it more because he doesn’t have to defend as much as he did with Klopp.
‘But it’s just time and time again, and I don’t think he needs to be dropped because he’s such a threat, but I think you’ve got to tell him to defend.’