The Egypt international produced a sumptuously cushioned volley to support Dominik Szoboszlai’s powerful strike for their second match before winning and scoring the penalty, ensuring there was no late drama at Anfield after Curtis Jones’ first goal in 58 games had opened the scoring.
Salah’s goal was only his second for the club since November 1 in a disappointing season.
But since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations – for which his future looked in doubt following a fallout with Slot following a number of stints on the bench – the 33-year-old appears to have adapted to a different role within the squad.
“It’s really nice to have him back on the scoresheet, but what I like most is that he scores goals – you can almost expect that – but he also helps the team a lot defensively and that’s a very positive thing,” said the Liverpool boss.
After the match, Salah praised Szoboszlai, his good friend, as currently one of the best players in the world and there was no argument from Slot.
“I think there are a lot of good to elite footballers in the world, but I absolutely agree with Mo that Dom is one of them,” added the Dutchman, who believes the Hungary captain offers a lesson to all new signings at the club.
“Dominik is a great example of the model we use at this club. We bring in young players from another league, this situation in Leipzig, where he was already known as a player because he was very physical.
“The player we brought in was already good, but where is he now, he is much better than where he was two and a half years ago. That’s what you get when you sign young players, give them some time and let them play a lot.”
“Therefore, the trajectory he has gone through could be the same trajectory as other players we have signed from other leagues.
“You can already see their progress, but I have often said that players like Hugo and Florian will be better next season, at the end of the season or in two seasons, because these are two coming from the Bundesliga, because they are already good players for us.”
It was a fourth defeat in five games for Brighton and boss Fabian Hurzeler had to rue two good chances from Jack Hinshelwood and Diego Gomez at the end of the first half.
“Moments decided the game, unfortunately in the wrong direction,” he said.
“Liverpool’s goal came out of nowhere. We had two big chances where we had to score. The second half the same.”
“They had the quality to take advantage of their opportunities. We couldn’t be that effective. For us it was a disappointing result.”
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