Arne Slot was not the least bit surprised after Mohamed Salah made a big impact from the bench in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Brighton on Saturday.
Salah was left out of the matchday squad against Inter in midweek after declaring he had been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool in comments following a 3-3 draw against Leeds United.
In that match at Elland Road, Salah started on the bench for the third game in a row.
And although that became four when he was again named as one of the substitutes at Anfield against Brighton, Salah came on midway through the first half as a replacement for the injured Joe Gomez.
Salah made a telling impression when Hugo Ekitike headed home from his corner, with the Frenchman having scored his first of the afternoon in the opening minute.
“It was an easy decision to put him in the squad,” Slot told BBC Sport when asked about Salah’s return to the squad.
“I have said before what was said between the two of us, for me it remains between the two of us.
“He was back in the squad and we needed him.”
Following that assist, Salah now holds the all-time Premier League record for most goals at one club, with 277, overtaking Wayne Rooney’s total of 276.
The 33-year-old has scored 188 goals and produced 89 assists for Liverpool in the league since joining in the summer of 2017.
Slot said: “I think [Salah’s] the first touch was almost an assist [Alexis] Mac Allister.
“He was constantly involved in the threat we had.
“It was nice to see, but not a surprise because he has done that many times in a Liverpool shirt.”
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Salah produced five chances in total, including his assist for Ekitike, who made it four goals in two league games.
He became the youngest Liverpool player to score two or more goals in consecutive league games since Michael Owen in May 2001.
“I think he was impressive at times today,” Slot said about Ekitike.
“The goals he scored were good goals and there were other moments where I thought ‘wow’.
“That’s why we wanted him, of course, apart from the goals.
“It’s good to see him and others who came in the summer making progress.”
Despite a difficult season, Slot’s team has now been undefeated in four competition matches and is in sixth place.
The Dutchman believes his party has benefited from a bit of luck that they have hinted at at some stages of the campaign.
He said: “We had to work very hard for this win because we faced a very good team who pushed until the end.
“For the first time in weeks I feel like we were a bit lucky today.
“We have a clean sheet and in other games we have conceded three without the other team getting as many chances.”
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