Didi Hamann: Slot should’ve subbed off Liverpool player immediately after ‘disgraceful’ moment | OneFootball

Didi Hamann has ripped into one Liverpool player over a ‘disgraceful’ moment in the 4-1 drubbing by PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night.

The match got off to the worst possible start for the Reds after Virgil van Dijk gave away a cheap penalty for a daft handball, and although Dominik Szoboszlai levelled shortly afterwards, the second half was calamitous for Arne Slot’s side.

The visitors restored their lead in the 56th minute when Mauro Junior surged forward and played a perfectly weighted through ball for Guus Til to latch onto and fire past Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Adebayo Akinfenwa was critical of Milos Kerkez for allowing the scorer to get goal-side of him, but Hamann pointed the blame at another Liverpool player over that passage of play.

Hamann rips into ‘disgraceful’ Salah

Speaking on punditry duty for RTE Sport, the former Reds midfielder raged: “I thought Salah might be one of the first to be dropped, but I’m not sure because he needs him. Now he (Slot) has got a decision to make. Do you get the sack with Salah, or do you keep your job without him?

“What Salah did for that second PSV goal, I think Slot had one chance to take him off straight away, because what he did there was disgraceful.

“For a player of the calibre of Salah – and it pains me to say it because he’s the guy who’s been carrying the team for the last seven or eight years – the way he let the player, Mauro Junior, go past him, without doing anything to help the team.”

Image via TNT Sports

Hamann right to call out lack of work rate

Although pundits’ criticism of the Egyptian’s work rate can often seem lazy and stereotyped, Hamann was right to call out the 33-year-old over PSV’s second goal last night.

Junior shifted the ball beyond Salah all too easily to initiate the breakaway, and Liverpool’s number 11 made zero effort to track back and try to halt the Brazilian left-back.

We can absolve players for missing chances or not quite getting the execution right on a pass, as at least that shows a willingness to make something happen, but we can’t abide a lack of effort from those who pull on the LFC shirt.

The Egyptian King is unquestionably an Anfield legend for everything he’s done at the club, but Hamann isn’t wrong in saying that Slot would’ve felt justified if he’d substituted him immediately after Til’s goal due to his unacceptable work rate off the ball.

Salah is far from the only Liverpool player who needs to undertake a lot of soul-searching over the next few days. Collectively, this squad is performing nowhere near the levels that we believe they’re capable of, nor the minimum standards expected when representing this proud club.

You can watch Slot’s full post-PSV press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: