Liverpool were not meant to do anything special this year. A decade of heroic leadership from Jurgen Klopp, where they won just about every piece of silverware under the sun, was over.
Arne Slot had the herculean job of following on from the German, but, in reality, his tasks seemingly amounted to the bare minimum expected for the Reds - qualify for the Champions League and maybe win a domestic cup.
But taking over from such a beloved figure, especially in the lion’s den that is the Premier League, is far from straightforward. Just ask David Moyes or Unai Emery.
Unlike them however, what Slot could call on was a squad of players still very much capable of being an elite team and mounting a title challenge. After all, Klopp’s last season ended with an EFL Cup and only finishing nine points behind champions Manchester City.
They just needed to find an extra gear. Step forth Mohamed Salah, the driving force behind this season’s unprecedented 20th league title.
-
Becoming the complete forward
Already named FWA Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season, Salah has delivered what is arguably the most impressive campaign from an individual in the league’s thirty-three year-old history.
29 goals and 18 assists means he has also picked up the Golden Boot and Playmaker of the Season awards. It is the second time, after 2021/22, he has collected both in the same year.
His combined 47 goal involvements in a single season also equals the record held by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer - though Salah has done so in a 38-game year as opposed the English forwards’ 42-game leagues.
Salah himself already sees this season as one close to his heart.
"When we [won] the other trophies, I wasn’t involved like now. I don’t want to sound arrogant, my numbers were always the highest in the team, but this one is so special because the numbers are really [higher] than anyone else in the Premier League."
Arrogant or not, the self-belief Salah possesses makes it abundantly clear why he is able to keep being one of the best players in the world, even after already winning everything a European club has to offer.
"I wanted to prove that I’m still doing it now and with a different coach, with different players," Salah said about his motivation going into 2024/25.
It is fair to say he has soundly proven his point; that his talents are not merely bound by Klopp’s influence. This year his fitness, consistency and sheer technical ability have been on display like never before. A lot of that is down to the symbiotic relationship he has cultivated with Slot.
"I told him [Slot] 'with me you’re going to win the Premier League, but I have to feel really comfortable with the way we play.'
"We had a few honest conversations, and he told me 'okay, I will get the best out of you, I will put you in a situation that you feel comfy, but I need you to provide numbers.'
"So, yeah, I did that so well and in the end we win the Premier League."
With his early years at Anfield mostly characterised by tricky wing-play and a knack for goal scoring, Salah has gradually been developing more as an all round forward in recent times, especially since the departures of former partners-in-crime Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
As well as maintaining his scoring touch, he has taken up more of a creative mantle that exploded into life this year.
It has largely been down to the freedom Slot has given him to drop into the pocket or drift centrally, with the addition of having runners overlapping him and charging into the box. For instance, Salah’s 154 progressive carries this year is the highest of his Liverpool career by some distance.
He also registered personal records for long passes (54) and crosses into the penalty area (15) - all of which indicates this is a Mo Salah who is happy adapting his game to help spark attacking moves rather than just finish them off.
"Now I'm involved more with the ball at my feet, I feel that confidence. If you miss [a chance] you can have it again. That's what a player needs," Salah told Sky Sports.
"I know I can create a chance. Before I won playmaker of the year - 13 assists. I believed I had the ability but now I have the ball more often at my feet and I can do it more easily."
As he says, 2021/22 provided glimpses into his creative abilities, - and his assist tallies have been consistently in the double figures since - but majority of those assists came from cut backs or darting through balls. Now he is able to pull the strings.
The likes of Antoine Griezmann, Harry Kane and Lionel Messi are other examples of renowned goalscorers orienting their playmaking skills into their game. Salah has followed suit, becoming a much more complete and harder to stop forward because of it.
-
Entrusted to be the superstar
Slot was able to capitalise on the footballing intelligence already within Liverpool’s squad. Having gained heaps of experience under Klopp, Salah has evolved into a professor when it comes to reading game state.
His acumen worked in tandem with Slot’s tactical flexibility, with Egyptian appreciating the fluidity in which the team was able to play with.
"You go to the game and you see some managers like, 'This is my style and you have to do it the whole game,' but he’s adapting somehow to how our opponent is playing."
"He doesn’t have that ego that [says] 'OK, these are my tactics and it didn’t work but it will work in the second half.'
"No, no, no. He can adapt around. And in my head that’s very clever, very disciplined."
But regardless of what game management Slot deployed, getting Salah into the most effective areas possible remained paramount throughout the season. Salah attested to this, saying that Slot recognised in pre-season that he had to be seen as the main man.
"He [Slot] showed [me] 'you are different, you are a superstar here'. I probably felt that's what I needed at the time."
One of the buzzwords for Slot’s debut season will be trust. He trusted Ryan Gravenberch to be a domineering number six. He trusted Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold to revert to more natural full-back roles. He trusted Salah to be the spearhead of everything up top.
With Klopp leaving, so did his high-intensity, 'gegenpressing' brand of football, which, although still gave us some vintage Salah, was mainly authored towards generating opportunities through relentless pressure and more direct play.
Klopp was able to get uber high-quality players to fit such a demanding system to great success, whereas Slot slowed things down, honing in on maximising the productivity of Liverpool’s best players.
Salah’s fortunes as an assist-maker have upturned because of Slot’s more measured approach to pressing and build-up, enabling more focus to be placed on generating precise, orchestrated opportunities rather than ones born from beautiful chaos.
This also naturally has let Salah’s goal threat rocket right back up after a Liverpool career low of league goals in 2023/24 (just the 18 for him that year).
With the full-backs staying wider more often than in Klopp’s final year, Salah and Cody Gakpo on the left were able to push nearer to the opponents goal. On average, this season Salah was able to shoot closer to the goal than ever before (14.5 yards).
Additionally, he had way more touches in the final third (1119) and the opposition’s penalty area (356) than any of his seven years under Klopp’s tutelage - both being 32 and 55 higher than second place respectively.
-
Key games
Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool
Salah loves playing Man United. In 15 appearances, he has 13 goals and 6 assists against the Red Devils and back in September he played a saintly role for Liverpool once again in the old rivalry.
With hindsight, it is perhaps the earliest indicator of Slot’s revolution and Salah’s place within it. United’s backline simply could not live with the Egypt international as he sliced through them with killer passes and smart runs. It was not the sternest test he would face this season, but one that gave a key insight into what was to come.
Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool
With Arsenal having taken over from Liverpool as the main challengers to Man City in the previous two seasons, the expectation was Mikel Arteta’s men would push even further to claim an elusive league title. That may have been the case had they beaten Liverpool in game nine.
2-1 up with ten minutes to go Salah popped up with an incisive run into the box, finishing off a squared pass from Darwin Nunez. It was not the result the Reds were after, but showcased the Egyptians penchant for coming up big for his side, securing a draw that kept up the momentum in a near faultless start to the year.
Southampton 2-3 Liverpool
Liverpool travelled to the South Coast in November hoping to extend their lead at the top to eight points over a Man City side just starting to slip. A victory against lowly Southampton seemed a straightforward enough job, but after an hour the Saints were up 2-1.
Up steps Salah, who sublimely catches Alex McCarthy off-guard with the silkiest of first time finishes before thumping home a penalty to win the game late on.
Title charges are rarely plain sailing, but having someone as ultra consistent as Salah who can change the outcome of a game in an instant is vital.
Tottenham 3-6 Liverpool
Salah loves playing Tottenham, scoring 12 goals in 17 appearances against the Lilywhites. The nine goal thriller in December once again showcased the best of him, collecting two goals and two assists in North London.
A woeful, injury-riddled Spurs side may have been easy pickings for a player of his calibre, but how involved he was right up until the final whistle compounded his ability to constantly meet high standards.
Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool
So often the thorn in Liverpool’s side, Pep Guardiola’s men were firmly out of the title race by the time the Reds rocked up to the Etihad Stadium in February.
A calm, businesslike victory featured a classy performance from Salah, whose goal and assist demonstrated how intrinsic he was to the march towards the title.
His vision to pick out Dominik Szoboszlai was indicative of a creatively inspired season in a win that symbolised the gulf in class between the frequent rivals.
-
More to come
There is also a lot to be said about Salah’s physicality. It is the first season in his entire career he started every league game, and incidentally managed to play more minutes than ever before (3371).
Not only a testament to the sports science team, the 32-year-old is in his athletic peak and has spoken about emulating the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric to play until he nears his forties.
"I think I can play until the age of 39 or 40, but if I felt before that I wanted to stop, I would quit. I have achieved a lot of things."
Perhaps this season’s output is also simply the result of Salah being fully fit for its entirety.
For a while, it looked set to be his last dance on Merseyside, with his contract expiring at the end of the year.
However, to the horror of left-back’s across England and Europe, he eventually agreed a two-year extension. “I know my value and always I was waiting for the club to arrive at the right point,” he stated.
The swansong will have to wait but Salah’s contributions this year will go down in Liverpool folklore. And, even after eight years on the throne, it looks unlikely the Egyptian king will be slowing down anytime soon.
The 2024/25 VAVEL Player of the Season: Mohamed Salah.
