Incredibly, Mo Salah has been benched for the third successive match, and Arne Slot‘s decision triggered a reaction among Liverpool supporters and caused eyes to shift to Cody Gakpo.
Slot made four changes to his lineup at Leeds and Salah was expected to be among them to end a two-game run on the bench, but he instead stuck with Dominik Szoboszlai as an inverted winger.
There has been praise for how the Egyptian has handled his demotion, but a third game in succession is unlikely to sit well with the No. 11 as he is not the only player misfiring.
Upon the release of the team news, fans were quick to notice Salah’s absence from the XI and the presence of Gakpo, who starts his 17th game of the season from the first 22.
And bemusement is just one word you could use to describe the reaction…
Convinced at this point we only extended Salah’s deal in the summer because of the marketing opportunities with adidas.
— Sam McGuire (@SamMcGuire90) December 6, 2025
I never thought I’d ever see Mohamed Salah benched 3 games in a row
— ? (@CalvesLikeShaq) December 6, 2025
You can say whatever you want about Salah this season (he hasn’t been worse than Gakpo / Isak / Wirtz etc)
But he’s obviously a million times better at RW than Szoboszlai… we saw that against Sunderland
— ?? (@SadioIogist) December 6, 2025
There just simply isn’t a scenario where the solution is Salah being out of the team lol
— LFCJ (@NOTLFCJ__) December 6, 2025
“The problem with this lineup again is that nobody besides Dom wants to make a tackle. Even Gravenberch is very cautious this year, probably because he’s thinking about staying healthy for the World Cup.
“The only two who actually commit to challenges are Kerkez and Bradley, and they’re constantly risking yellows or even reds. Nobody stretches the width like Chiesa.
“So you take Salah out of the lineup and the exact same BS happens.” – Albert Tang in TIA comments.
All the chat about Mo’s availability and AfCoN failed to anticipate this new reality in which our best attacker is now in the same bracket as Chiesa in Slot’s mind – just lads who’ll come on when we’re behind, again, and run about a bit.
This is getting weird now.
— Trev Downey (@downeytrev) December 6, 2025
Arne Slot better hope for a clean sheet, because dropping Salah can only be – if it’s not an authority flex – because he wants to defensively stiffen the right flank
— John O’Sullivan (@NotoriousJOS) December 6, 2025
Salah benched but Gakpo keeps his place again…
Gakpo is legitimately undroppable under slot isn’t he. Madness
— Marty (@Marty93pr) December 6, 2025
Cody Gakpo starting over Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak & Federico Chiesa is absolutely diabolical.
— ? (@LFCApproved) December 6, 2025
“Cody Gakpo. The most one dimensional winger that can never get dropped. Arne Slot out. – voc in TIA comments.
“The fact Gakpo plays and Salah is on the bench is crazy, Gakpo is as bad as Mo, what do Chiesa has to do? Ekitike for Isak is good choice though.” – King MJ in TIA comments.
Slot’s persistence with Gakpo and his refusal to play Chiesa give me absolutely zero sympathy and patience with him
— J Lo (@jaredlouw) December 6, 2025
Cody Gakpo must know something about Arne Slot that he’s doesn’t want getting out. It’s the only explanation for how he keeps starting.
— Peter Bolster (@peter_bolster) December 6, 2025
If we had Slot and Gakpo that time we played 2 games in 24 hours on different continents, Slot would have started him in both.
— PM (@____PM1O) December 6, 2025
Salah being dropped is fine but Gakpo getting to start every game is diabolical
— Maori_Scouser (@Dustin_LFC07) December 6, 2025
How can you drop Salah for 3 games but Gakpo plays every game like nothings happened?
— baby marlu (@LfcMarlu) December 6, 2025
If an attempt at a statement, it is a bold one from Slot as he has opted to shoehorn a midfielder into a position where he has a natural fit and fresh legs.
The ire among supporters will be that the treatment is more than bemusing when compared to Gakpo, who has seen his levels drop with a lack of competition in his position.
Salah is by no means undroppable, but Slot is not winning anyone over this time.
