Arne Slot laments lack of Liverpool 'magic' as he hints at reason for Mohamed Salah decision

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.

And the Reds boss says he was left to rue an absence of "magic" from his forward players as they missed the chance to close the gap on the top four further after Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Leeds United.After Chemsdine Talbi's deflected effort had given the Black Cats the lead in the second half, it was an own goal from Nordi Mukiele, forced by Florian Wirtz, that levelled things up on the night. However, Liverpool were unable to secure a late winner as they drew their first game of 14 Premier League fixtures this term.Cody Gakpowas substituted for Mohamed Salah at half-time but the Egyptian failed to inspire after a first period that lacked creativity from a team who have now won just four of their last 14 games.READ MORE: Arne Slot makes painfully honest Liverpool admission after Sunderland draw - 'It is clear'READ MORE: Sunderland boss admits what surprised him about Liverpool as Mohamed Salah claim made"In my opinion Cody struggled to dominate the one-v-ones," Slot said.

"And if you want to have any chance against them pressing high and also in a low block then the way to score is quite simple: you need a moment of magic from a player or a set piece to score."And Cody struggled to find that moment because it was hard for him to dominate and get crosses in and in the first half we played (Dominik) Szoboszlai on the right to be defensively strong not to concede as much as the last few weeks."So I changed to Mo on the right side and then with midfielder Florian Wirtz on the left. We hardly conceded but it was throughout the whole game difficult to create that moment of magic."One was close with Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) in a set piece, in the first half.

We had enough especially in the second half but didn't score."Slot had substitute Federico Chiesa to thank for preserving a point when he cleared off the line from Wilson Isidor after Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs had put through his team-mate with a long ball at a Liverpool corner.And Sot added: "I think in the final minutes of the game we were close, in my opinion, to making it 2-1 because we had a few set pieces. But then from one of the set-pieces, their goalkeeper caught the ball from the second phase and I looked up and I saw the player of them completely free on the half way line."The good thing is from Fede he could have thought: ‘It is nothing for me to do anymore, I’m so far away from the situation'.