Mohamed Salah has left Liverpool to join the Egyptian team for the AFCON. If this team goes deep into the final match in Morocco on January 18, the 33-year-old striker could be absent from 8 matches of his home team.
The question is how will coach Arne Slot restructure Liverpool without the biggest star in attack?
In fact, the trip to Tottenham in the round of matches this weekend is not the first time Liverpool have played without Salah in the starting lineup this season. The Egyptian has been on the bench for five consecutive games in all competitions recently.
Salah has come off the bench seven times since the start of the season, starting with away trips to Galatasaray and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League in September and October.
He then continued to miss Premier League games against West Ham, Sunderland, Leeds and Brighton, before making a complete absence from Inter Milan in the Champions League earlier this month. This was the time Salah publicly expressed his feelings of being "abandoned" by the club.
During that run, Slot experimented with various options on the right wing, while adjusting the attack structure to reduce his dependence on Salah. These experiments partly reveal the tactical scenario Liverpool could apply during the AFCON period, when they are forced to adapt without their number one scorer.
Liverpool's away match against Galatasaray in September marked the first time since their Champions League group win over Rangers in October 2022 that Salah was fit enough to play but did not start in a match of great importance in this arena.
It was also the first time this season that Slot has tested Jeremie Frimpong in a more amateur position, on the right wing of Liverpool's attack, instead of the full-back role he has played since the beginning of the season.
With his speed and ability to break through, Frimpong is expected to become a big threat on the right wing, especially in counter-attacking situations when there is space behind the opponent's defense.
However, after a few early penetrations into the Galatasaray penalty area - where his decisive passes lacked accuracy - the Dutchman's influence gradually decreased. Frimpong was then substituted in the 60th minute, in the context of Liverpool's defeat in Istanbul.
Frimpong's hamstring injury has returned, making it impossible for Slot to continue applying this option in the past. However, with Frimpong back in training and ready to play, the question is whether the Dutch captain will reuse this option during Salah's absence.
In the games against Frankfurt and Leeds United, Slot switched to a 4-4-2 formation, or a 4-1-2-2-2 diamond variation, with Dominik Szoboszlai starting on the right wing but often coming into the middle to participate in coordinating the game.
Liverpool scored 8 goals in these 2 matches, in which Szoboszlai directly contributed 2 goals and 1 assist. The arrangement of two strikers to play Isak - Ekitike, or using Florian Wirtz as a rear playmaker, helps the team maintain a strong attacking firepower even without Salah.
