Mohamed Salah has been the most prolific goalscorer and playmaker in the 2024/2025 Premier League season, with 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 matches while playing as a right-winger.
This is five goals and six assists clear of the closest players, Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy, respectively.
Liverpool have dominated the Premier League this season while also challenging in the UEFA Champions League.
This has been a surprise for most football fans, as Liverpool only brought in one new player during the transfer window.
However, the slight tactical changes made by Arne Slot and the goal contributions from Salah have led to a successful season for the club.
Salah has set the standards on the pitch since returning to the league in 2017.
Still, this year, in his first season under Jürgen Klopp‘s successor, Mo Salah has progressed to another level, surpassing his previous seasons under the former manager.
After recently signing a new two-year contract that will keep him at the club until summer 2027, if he can continue his current form during the season and produce record-breaking numbers, he will be able to contribute to more successful seasons with Liverpool.
In this tactical analysis and scout report, we will focus on Salah’s transformation this season under Slot tactics and how this differs from his playing style under Klopp.
Mohamed Salah Playing Style Under Jürgen Klopp
Jürgen Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015 and transformed the team on the pitch—and the club overall—bringing them back to the top and challenging for titles and trophies every year.
In 2017, Klopp signed Salah, which instantly improved the quality on the pitch.
Salah achieved 32 goals and eight assists in his first season.
Salah played seven seasons under Klopp, scoring over 15 goals in the Premier League each season, and was instrumental in the gegenpressing style of football Klopp instilled in the team.
During Klopp’s tenure at the club, Salah was a key component of one of the most devastating attacking front threes the Premier League has seen, alongside Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino.
Throughout the seven seasons, Salah scored 155 goals in the league, averaging 22 per season.
This illustrates that Salah was Liverpool’s main goalscoring threat under Klopp.
He would frequently drift in from the right and take up more central areas to provide a greater threat; however, providing assists under Klopp came at a sacrifice for Salah, as the highest number in a single season was 11.
He only reached double figures again in one other campaign.
Salah’s number of assists under Klopp could have been improved, and this has been seen this year under Slot.
Mohamed Salah Style Of Play Under Arne Slot
Since the arrival of Arne Slot, Liverpool’s play has undergone a tactical shift, which has benefited Salah massively by enabling him to focus more on his offensive output for the team.
Firstly, looking at the pizza chart above, we can see Salah’s availability and usage under Slot was extremely high this season, as he played 99% of his team’s possible league minutes.
Salah delivered an outstanding performance in almost all attacking metrics, as well as the possession metrics: Dangerous passes per 90, Progressive passes per 90 and Received passes per 90, emphasising his involvement on the ball and creativity.
In their first season under Slot, the team has shifted from the gegenpressing style to a more controlled approach to matches.
Out of possession, the team often employs a 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 formation to press the opposition, aiming to force them wide.
This formation also allows the Reds to press in a structured way while maintaining a strong defensive position.
Under Arne Slot coaching style, Salah’s role has evolved from the role he played under Klopp due to the tactical and positional changes Slot has made to the team.
The changes to the team’s style of play during this season have enabled Salah to stay higher up the pitch and focus on exploiting the space behind the opposition.
This new evolved role for Salah has made his positioning more deliberate, where Salah is often now found taking up the half-space on the right flank with the occasional drift centrally, allowing for overlaps from the full-backs and better link-up play, which creates more team chances.
This tactical change has seen Salah’s goal involvement increase, highlighting his vision and passing ability.
Significantly, his expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes has risen to 0.82, and his expected assists (xA) have risen to 0.63, both the highest of his career to date.
The change in tactics for Liverpool has significantly impacted Salah’s offensive output, which has been seen through Salah’s statistics during the 2024/2025 Premier League season.
This season, Salah has contributed to 55% of Liverpool’s 86 league goals, and over half of his goals have been scored in the second half.
This illustrates that the change in style under Slot has enabled Salah to conserve his stamina during matches, thereby delivering the best possible attacking output for the team.
Mohamed Salah Heat Map
The following heatmaps illustrate Salah’s positioning during the season.
On the left is Salah’s heatmap from the 2018/2019 Premier League season under Klopp, and on the right is Salah’s heatmap from the 2024/2025 Premier League season under Slot.
These heatmaps demonstrate the importance of Salah down the right flank.
Under Klopp, he covered the entire right side of the opposition half, drifting centrally often and tracking back occasionally.
We see him drifting into central areas because the striker has vacated the space, which allows the full-back to overlap and utilise the space created by Salah.
This was a key component for Salah under Klopp, and it remains part of his game under Slot this season.
Additionally, Salah has sought to improve his assist numbers, and this season, we can see that he and Slot have focused on enhancing them.
Over his career under Klopp, Salah averaged seven assists per season, and this term, he achieved 18 assists, which illustrates that this area of his game has improved under Slot.
Mohamed Salah Development Under Slot
As stated above, Salah’s playing style has changed tactically for Liverpool under Slot.
The development under Slot has enabled Salah to adopt a more attacking-focused mindset, as this is where his best performances can come from when he is involved in the majority of the match’s offensive situations.
Statistically, there are already developments in Salah’s performances.
Under Jürgen Klopp, Salah averaged 127 shots, 185 dribbles, 94 recoveries, 87 progressive runs, and 221 touches in the opposition’s box per season.
In contrast, under Slot, the numbers have already increased, even though it is his first season under Slot.
This season, Salah’s statistics showed 126 shots, 209 dribbles, 91 recoveries, 143 progressive runs, and 291 touches in the opposition’s box.
The difference in these statistics for Salah under the different managers demonstrates that his presence in the attacking phases has increased.
Salah is not as relied upon to do as much defensive work under Slot.
However, under the Dutch manager, he is given more responsibility in terms of directly driving with the ball and carrying it into the box, which is the biggest difference noted.
Given Salah’s consistency over his tenure in the league and the numbers he continues to produce each season, we can say that for his remaining time in the league, if he maintains his current level of performance, then the success for Liverpool and Salah individually will continue to grow.
Mohamed Salah Movement
One attribute Salah possesses is his off-the-ball movement, which allows him to generate opportunities for himself or even create space for teammates to move into.
The movement generally associated with Salah is the central movement or staying wide, which allows the central midfielders to take up the space in the centre.
As you can see in this movement action, Salah has vacated the right flank and taken up a central position.
The left-back follows Salah, leaving space for Trent Alexander-Arnold to move into and create an attacking opportunity.
The movement from Salah creates wide space down the flank, and he follows into the box to try and get on the end of a cross.
Again, in the second movement action, Salah has spun in behind the defender, exploiting the space left.
This is a move that has become a staple of his game, where he utilises his pace to create opportunities.
Knowing Salah’s pace, Slot has made that attribute a key factor in his tactics to optimise Salah’s attacking prowess.
This movement eventually led to an assist for Salah in the first Premier League game of the season, setting the tone for what would become a title-winning campaign for Liverpool.
Mohamed Salah Assist Providing
Salah was not well-known for providing assists under Klopp.
However, this season, Salah put up his best assist numbers of his career under Slot, which won him the Premier League Playmaker of the Season award.
Mohamed Salah Assist Vs Chelsea
This assist comes from Salah keeping his width on the right and Dominik Szoboszlai making the forward run, creating the space on the inside.
This space allows Salah to cut in and notice the deep run from Curtis Jones, and then it’s all about the delivery of the cross.
This type of movement from Salah cutting in was similar under Klopp, but most of the time, it resulted in a shot on goal.
Therefore, we can see that Slot has changed Salah’s mindset to trust his vision and passing ability to find a teammate and create a chance.
Mohamed Salah Assist Vs Manchester City
Again, the following assist versus Manchester City highlights Salah’s playmaking ability and vision to create chances.
It shows Salah coming in from the right, squaring up the defender, and threading the pass through the box.
This assist shows he trusts in his footballing ability to pick out the player making the run to the back post, rather than taking the safe option and playing the ball back to the edge of the box.
Mohamed Salah Goal Vs Brighton
One of Salah’s trademark goals is the cut-in from the right and curling the ball into the far top corner.
This is Salah’s trademark, as he has scored numerous goals this way for both club and country, despite defenders and goalkeepers knowing this is what he intends to execute.
Salah is quick at shifting the ball into space.
With minimal back lift from his leg, he executes the shot quickly and catches the keeper off guard.
From this action shot, we can see that Salah has created space for himself and is preparing to take the shot.
This type of goal was commonly seen when he played under Klopp; however, since the transition under Slot, this trademark goal remains present, even with the minor changes to the role Salah now plays.
Conclusion
Mohamed Salah has had another record-breaking season, and with a new two-year contract, he has the time to continue his dominance in the league.
Under Slot this season, we can see that Salah is contributing more assists than he did under Klopp and is focusing more on being a real threat in the attacking phases, with limited defensive contributions.
Overall, there have been minor adjustments from Salah to accommodate Arne Slot’s style of play, benefiting both Salah and the team as a whole.
