Slot’s selection dilemmas: Who to pick at full-back? Can Salah be axed? Will Wirtz start?

Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Man Utd at Anfield on Super Sunday has given head coach Arne Slot plenty to consider, and he now has a number of selection issues to sort out as he seeks a formula to get the champions back to winning ways.

Liverpool’s latest setback, the first time they have lost four games in a row in all competitions since under Brendan Rodgers in November 2014, has really put the spotlight on Slot ahead of a crucial week that sees them face tricky-looking trips to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday and then Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday Night Football.

And the Dutchman has a lot of thinking to do ahead of those two games, including crucial decisions to be made over key areas of the team…

Who are Liverpool’s best full-backs?

The spotlight was well and truly on both Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley heading into Sunday’s showdown with United after both made difficult starts to the season, and nothing we saw from either full-back at Anfield will have convinced many they should start against Frankfurt in Europe this week.

The summer signing from Bournemouth was given a 5 in the Sky Sports player ratings and Slot must surely now be thinking of taking the 21-year-old out of the team for a spell and giving the more experienced Andy Robertson a run in his place.

On the opposite side of the defence, do not be surprised either if the Reds boss again opts to field Dominik Szoboszlai as a makeshift right-back in place of Bradley, who has understandably found it hard replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold in the role so far this campaign.

Having said that, whoever gets the nod will find it a tough challenge replicating the influence of one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever right-backs.

Time for Jones to step in for ailing MacAllister?

There is no doubt Alexis MacAllister is still not fully recovered from the muscle injury that curtailed his campaign last season, with the midfielder having not completed 90 minutes in the Premier League since April.

As a result, the Argentine was unable to take part in a full pre-season and was then out of action with the same problem at the start of this season, with Slot gradually working him back to full fitness.

But with the side now struggling for rhythm and results, should Liverpool’s best-performing midfielder in last season’s title-winning campaign now be left out while he gets back to that sort of form, with a fully-mobile Curtis Jones – who impressed after replacing MacAllister just past the hour-mark on Sunday – taking his place?

When will Wirtz start?

Florian Wirtz said one of the main reasons he opted to join Liverpool instead of Bayern Munich or Man City last summer was the detailed tactical plan Slot had laid out to him when they first met face to face to discuss his possible move from Bayer Leverkusen.

“I can remember the first time, he already showed me some scenes of how we want to play and how I could fit in the team,” he said after completing his then British-record transfer in June.

“He was just telling me that I’m a player he really wants to have in his team and can bring the team a step forward.”

However, after Wirtz was once again left out of Liverpool’s starting line-up for their biggest game of the season on Sunday, it begs the question – what exactly was that plan and when will it be executed? As Jamie Carragher said on commentary at Anfield, in the long-term Slot cannot keep leaving out the playmaker.

And asked in the Sky Sports studio post-match who Slot should build the team around, Carragher said: “It has to be [Alexander] Isak and Wirtz because they’ve spent the money on them and their age profile [is lower] compared to [Mo] Salah.”

Is Salah undroppable?

Mohamed Salah endured another difficult afternoon in front of goal against United, spurning one presentable second-half opening with an uncharacteristically hurried finish in front of the Kop.

Revealingly, that means last season’s double Footballer of the Year has now gone seven consecutive Premier League appearances without scoring a non-penalty goal for the very first time in his Liverpool career, presenting Slot with a real selection dilemma going forward.

With the Egypt forward’s attacking metrics at their lowest since joining the club in 2017, Carragher says the time has finally come when Salah is no longer an automatic starter on the right-hand side of the front three.

“I think we’re at that stage now where Salah shouldn’t be a guaranteed starter every week,” Carragher told The Gary Neville Podcast. “I do think this is a real conundrum for the manager going forward.”

“I don’t think Salah should be like a Virgil van Dijk where it’s like ‘first name on the team sheet’,” the former Liverpool defender added in the Sky Sports studio.

I think we’re at that stage now where Salah shouldn’t be a guaranteed starter every week

“Liverpool have got two away games – in the Champions League at Frankfurt and then they go to Brentford. I don’t think Salah should start both of those games.”

And the former Liverpool captain thinks it maybe worth Slot giving summer signing Jeremie Frimpong a run on the right of the front line in Frankfurt on Wednesday after the Dutchman’s impressive late cameo at Anfield on Sunday.

“Maybe [he needs] to have a little look at Frimpong in an away game, who can maybe help the full-back back a little bit more defensively and give you a little bit of pace on the outside, as we saw when he came on,” he said.

We need to talk about Isak

One of Slot’s biggest selection headaches centers on which of the club’s big-money summer signings should get the nod up front, Alexander Isak or Hugo Ekitike.

Isak started against United on Sunday, but misfired in front of goal again, failing to find the net when put through on goal just before half-time, meaning the most expensive player in British football history has still to score in the Premier League so far this season.

Slot has consistently claimed it is all down to Isak having missed the whole of pre-season after trying to force through his move from Newcastle United to Liverpool, although he did also say in his press conference on Friday that now is the right time to start judging the Swede.

“Fitness-wise he is close to the level he should be and now we can judge in a fair way from now on,” he said. “I know how this industry works, if he plays twice and doesn’t score, then that’s not what you want.”

And yet Slot has a fit and firing Ekitike waiting in the wings, with the striker having hit the ground running since joining the club from Frankfurt for £79m in July, scoring five times in 11 matches in all competitions.

However, the France international has not registered since hitting the winner against Everton on September 20, with his rhythm no doubt negatively impacted by him having to share the No 9 role with the now-fit Isak.

Perhaps Slot would have been better starting with the more in-form and fresher Ekitike against United (unlike the Frenchman, Isak played both of Sweden’s recent World Cup Qualifiers), bringing Isak off the bench against the visitors’ tiring back line.

Either way, though, Slot faces a real dilemma over which of the forwards he should start, especially if Isak continues to struggle in front of goal.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com