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Are Liverpool a better team without Mohamed Salah?
It is a question that usually comes back to bite you if you reply with ‘yes’. Similar queries are posed if an Erling Haaland absence coincides with a good performance for Manchester City, for example, and the big man often makes his critics look silly.
So we whisper the question fully expecting Salah to come back into the Liverpool XI on Wednesday or Saturday and show us all why he is still the main man around these parts. The Egyptian always ups his game when he is fired up.
We would also point out the fact Liverpool’s return to winning ways was against lowly West Ham, a team who have leaked goals this season, sacked one manager and are outside of the relegation zone purely because they have scored more than 18th-placed Leeds.
‘Doctor West Ham will see you now,’ was one joke going round the press room pre-match at the London Stadium – if you are a team on a bad run, this lot will give you a helping hand and ease your worries.
But despite all that, it is fair to say Arne Slot now has a Salah conundrum. Because without the Egpytian on Sunday, Liverpool looked more balanced, dangerous and defensively solid.
Mo Salah had to make do with a rare appearance on the bench on Sunday - and without him Liverpool put in their best performance in weeks
Striker Alexander Isak stepped up in Salah's absence, scoring his first Premier League goal for the Reds
Slot's decision proved a masterstroke - but he now has a conundrum over whether to bring Salah back into the fold
They were less like what captain Virgil van Dijk last week described as a ‘mess’ and more of a fully-functioning unit. Far from perfect but an all-round performance that made some of Slot’s boo boys go quiet.
To recap, Salah was dropped and Dominik Szoboszlai, the all-action Mr Versatile who played as a roaming midfielder, would sometimes pop up in Salah’s patch but also drift inside as an extra midfielder.
Joe Gomez, who had not started a league game for 11 months, came in at right back while Florian Wirtz returned to the XI as a No 10 (he has often been shoved out wide in his early Reds career) and had his best league outing since signing for the club.
As these graphics below demonstrate, Liverpool looked a lot more balanced. More of a unit than 11 players chucked on to the pitch. The middle of the park was less crowded and players were not getting in each other’s way like we have seen often this term.
Liverpool's average positions in their loss to Brentford show how congested their set-up was in the middle of the park, with many of their attacking players trying to occupy the same areas
Against West Ham in Salah's absence, by contrast, they had far better balance - with Florian Wirtz freed up to play as a No10 and Isak playing as a more traditional No9
Gomez at right back solved a lot of problems. Szoboszlai has filled in out of position admirably and been Liverpool’s best player this season, but Gomez is a much better defender than the Hungarian. His aerial ability also helps when defending set-pieces, which has been a huge issue.
Teams have targeted Liverpool’s right flank all season and Marc Cucurella, the Chelsea left back, said they knew they could exploit Salah's lack of defensive duties off the ball. Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Crystal Palace all thrived down this side.
Salah registered 57 goals and assists in all competitions last season and was by far the best player in England so it was a trade-off worth taking for Slot. Leave Salah up there and, though some goals would be conceded, Liverpool would score far more. This season, though, that is not the case.
In the post-Trent Alexander-Arnold world, Liverpool have now played six different right backs this season in the league: Jeremie Frimpong, Conor Bradley, Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Wataru Endo and now Gomez. Until Sunday, none of Slot’s experiments had really worked.
Frimpong, it is believed, is back on the grass and hoping to be back in around a fortnight, which is similar to Bradley, but Gomez certainly offers solidity down that side that Liverpool have been crying out for. It would be interesting to see how he'd dovetail with a Salah return.
Another much-improved star was Wirtz. He has had his critics since a £116million move from Bayer Leverkusen but the German star showed fans just why he was so sought after with a spellbinding display.
There is something about watching a creative player in full flow (or, shall we say full Flo given that is his nickname in the dressing room?) live in the stadium. Watching Wirtz glide around the pitch was to witness a magician at work, picking passes that just do not look on.
‘I feel terribly sorry for Florian Wirtz,’ said Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness in the German press this weekend. ‘Everything went through him in Leverkusen. In Liverpool, he gets five passes a half, loses the ball twice, he gets a bad rating.’
Salah watches on at the London Stadium - some of Liverpool's opponents have exploited his lack of defensive duties this season
Wirtz was among the players to benefit most from the decision to drop Salah - the German had by far his best game yet in the Premier League
Liverpool looked much more solid thanks to returning defender Joe Gomez - it would be interesting to see how he'd dovetail with Salah
We can probably attribute those poorly-timed quotes to jealousy, given Bayern tried – and failed – to sign Wirtz in the summer.
In any case, it was noticeable that without Salah, Wirtz took the game by the scruff of its neck as if to say: ‘I am the main man now, I am the creative hub of this team.'
In previous months, it felt like Wirtz wanted to take up similar positions to Salah and other team-mates. They would get in each other’s way. It was certainly a factor behind the poor form of the new signing.
And then there is the Alexander Isak factor. Salah, for most of his Liverpool career, has had a less traditional No 9 in the middle, think Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz. Strikers who would like to come deep and create spaces, whereas Isak is keen to dart in behind.
The two are not playing on the same wavelength just yet.
Isak, for what it is worth, did not really look any better on Sunday compared to his early months at the club. His touch was heavy, he still looked a yard off the pace. But goals are the magic currency in football and his 60th-minute strike changed the whole narrative.
‘He’s very, very quiet, he likes to be on his own sometimes, and you can see that,’ said Alexis Mac Allister after the game.
‘I just tried to speak to him because his Spanish is quite good as well. But yeah, he’s a quiet guy and we are all happy to have him here.
Forward Cody Gakpo celebrates making it 2-0 late on and sealing a much-needed win for the under-pressure Reds
It's vital for Slot that his side can cope without Egypt star Salah ahead of this month's Africa Cup of Nations
‘They (Isak and Wirtz) are really good people, we are all in the same boat trying to get out of this situation and they are very positive, they give their best. So yeah, they are really, really good and everyone likes them.’
This is now a win-win for Slot. Salah could come back with a bang to prove wrong anyone who genuinely believes Liverpool are better without him.
Or, if he does not, the Reds boss knows he now has a team that can function as a well-oiled unit without the main man.
Given the fact Salah turns 34 this summer and is jetting off to Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations in the coming weeks, getting the No Mo Show on the road was a perfect start to the Christmas period for Slot.
