Danny Murphy says Arne Slot needs to make a change that Mo Salah may not like

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Mohamed Salah has not looked like himself this season and has found himself under the spotlight.The Reds have had a very poor start to the season by their standards and individual performances have not been good enough, although there is not one singular person to blame. He has just four goals in the league and looks nowhere near as dangerous as he once did, with some starting to believe that his time as Liverpool’s star man is now up.However, Danny Murphy believes that he still has plenty to give, but Arne Slot needs to make one change to the Egyptian’s game, but it may not go down too well.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty ImagesArne Slot needs to tell Mohamed Salah to defendAlthough Salah was still unbelievable under Jurgen Klopp, his game went to new heights under Slot, at least in an attacking sense that is.This is because the Dutchman instructed him to stay forward so he could maximise his output in the final third, meaning he was relieved of any defensive duties. This has led to many believing Salah needs to help out defensively, with Murphy believing that Slot must have that difficult conversation with him before it is too late.

“Giving Salah the license to not defend against a left-back who loves going forward and isn’t even a left-back in O’Reilly, who has been brilliant recently…I couldn’t believe what I was watching, to be honest,” Murphy said on talkSPORT.“I don’t know how he [Slot] can keep watching the same thing and not change it, 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.READ MORE: Fabrizio Romano shares update on Arne Slot’s future after Man City beat Liverpool 3-0“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.”Liverpool’s defensive issues are not because of Mohamed SalahAlthough Murphy is right in saying that Salah needs to come back and defend, that is not because he is costing the team, but because they have lost the balance elsewhere in the team.By trying to play with an out-and-out number 10, the midfield is not as workmanlike as it once was, with there now being just two players to help defend rather than three.This means someone like Ryan Gravenberch is having to do two jobs at once, so when he comes across to help out the right-back, like he did so many times last season, there is now no one to cover himself in the middle.The fact Luis Diaz also used to work so hard was a big miss, with the Colombian able to cover the left-back consistently, enabling someone like Alexis Mac Allister to stay central.