Wayne Rooney dropped one sentence into Liverpool’s season that won’t go away.
“Salah is not helping them defensively.”
Then he said the quiet part out loud: Arne Slot should make a “big decision” and bench the club’s star forward.
Rooney’s challenge doesn’t land on Salah. It lands on Slot. At a time when the Dutch coach is edging from under the radar into the firing line, benching Mohamed Salah would be as much a test of the manager’s authority as the forward’s form.
Liverpool’s numbers explain why the conversation has turned this blunt. The 3–0 loss to Nottingham Forest was their sixth defeat in seven league matches. They sit 11th with 18 points from 12 games. They’ve conceded six unanswered goals across their last two Premier League fixtures.
Salah’s own slide is just as stark. Twenty-nine league goals and 18 assists last season. Five goals and three assists in 17 games this campaign.
Supporters who once joked that “Salah seals it” whenever he appeared on the right side of the box now talk about a passenger rather than a match winner. Sharp turn from the mood after that 4–2 opening-day win over Bournemouth.
Slot in the glare, Salah in the crosshairs
Rooney isn’t hiding behind vague criticism. He pictures the scene from the bench. If you’re one of Liverpool’s expensive new signings and you see Salah “not running” while still starting every match, what message does that send about standards?
His prescription is blunt. Slot should park the expansive idea of Liverpool for a while, make the team “compact” and “hard to beat,” and only bring Salah back once the collective work rate is restored.
The timing matters. Slot is already managing a season warped by grief after the summer death of Diogo Jota, a player whose mural and memorials still frame the walk to Anfield.
Rooney acknowledges that loss, then adds a sting: tragedy explains emotion, not the lack of “fighting” or “tackling.”
At the same time, Slot is coaching under the constant shadow of Jürgen Klopp. Every bad week brings back the comparison. Just as Sir Alex Ferguson’s presence once hovered over David Moyes at Manchester United. Rooney draws the parallel directly and argues that Liverpool’s fanbase has to “move away from that and get behind” the current manager.
So his demand sounds like a shot at Salah. But the subtext is clear. If Slot wants to step out of Klopp’s silhouette, he has to show that no one, not even the modern symbol of the club, is beyond being benched.
There’s also a tactical case. Teams have increasingly attacked the flank Salah leaves exposed. Around 22 percent of shots Liverpool face this season arrive from their right side, the highest share for any single flank in the league. About 10 percent from the opposite wing.
Forest’s second goal at Anfield felt like the pattern in one move. Neco Williams raced behind Salah to create the chance.
Slot has been open in the past about giving Salah lighter defensive instructions to keep him fresh near goal. That bargain made sense in a season where the forward was rewriting away-day records and living permanently at the top of the scoring charts. Mo Salah was a cheat code then.
When the goals slow and the pressing doesn’t, the compromise starts to look indulgent.
From the outside, supporters are split. Some see Rooney saying out loud what Slot appears unwilling to do. A necessary jolt to a dressing room that has grown too comfortable. Others won’t hear it. A disjointed back line and rotating midfield have left Salah isolated, forced into low-percentage dribbles instead of the quick combinations that once defined Liverpool’s right side.
The opinion pieces backing Rooney all say the same thing. Liverpool can’t carry Salah anymore.
Slot stays calm in press conferences. Solutions aren’t far away. This is his to fix. But every team sheet has become a test now. Start Salah and critics say he’s scared of the dressing room. Drop him and every stray pass from the replacement will be used against him.
This isn’t about Salah. Liverpool have bigger problems. Rooney’s right—you can’t ask everyone to run while one guy walks. The question Slot has to answer is whether he can drop anyone without it turning into a crisis.
If he manages that, the debate around Salah will feel like one part of a wider rebuild rather than the final act of a dynasty.
Rooney said it out loud. Now Slot and Salah both have to answer for it. The next team sheet won’t just be about who plays. It’s about whether the manager matters more than the name.
