‘Maybe one to watch’ – Journalist intrigued by Arne Slot tactic in Liverpool’s friendly v Preston

Arne Slot had his first chance to assess his Liverpool squad in a match situation on Friday when the Reds took on Preston in their opening pre-season friendly of 2024.

A total of 25 players featured on the day for LFC as they fell to a 1-0 defeat, but the Dutchman would surely have been pleased with the game as an exercise in building up fitness and evaluating his tactical approach prior to competitive action getting underway in four weeks’ time.

The Daily Mail’s Merseyside football reporter Lewis Steele shared his post-match thoughts via X, and among a few points of note, he referenced the use of a certain Egyptian in a different position from the one he usually occupies.

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The journalist said: “Mo Salah as No 9? Could just be as there was no one else to play up top but maybe one to watch.”

But on a serious note: good to see Stefan Bajcetic get some minutes. Will be interesting to see how he fares after a horror year with injury.

Sepp van den Berg clearly being handed a big chance to impress during the off-season and taking it so far.

Mo Salah as No 9? Could just…

— Lewis Steele (@LewisSteele_) July 19, 2024

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As per Transfermarkt, Salah has played at centre-forward on 33 occasions for Liverpool, although most of those were in his first two seasons at Anfield, with only four instances since the end of the 2020/21 campaign.

However, as Steele rightly pointed out, the 32-year-old was the Reds’ only senior attacker available against Preston, so Slot’s hand was forced to some extent. Also, fixtures such as these are the perfect platform for the kind of experimentation which’d be risky in the Premier League or Champions League.

It should be noted, too, that the Egyptian no longer has the same searing pace that he exhibited in his earlier years at LFC and could naturally find himself drifting further infield at his age.

With no other senior right-winger in the squad, Salah will likely revert to a wide position once the full playing pick is back on Merseyside, unless the head coach firmly intends to give Ben Doak a decent number of opportunities in domestic cups, or off the bench in top-flight and European action.

Liverpool have four more friendlies as part of their pre-season programme, which’ll offer further clues as to where Slot plans on utilising each player within his overall setup. It’ll be interesting to see if our number 11 continues to play at centre-forward on the upcoming U.S. tour.

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