Arne Slot has praised Mohamed Salah and said the Liverpool forward is a role model to the young players in his squad.
Salah scored as Liverpool continued their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the United States, with Fabio Carvalho also on target for the Reds.
The Egyptian international’s long-term future is in doubt after entering the final 12 months of his contract at Liverpool but Slot has lavished praise on the 32-year-old for returning for pre-season in peak condition.
Slot said Salah’s consistency and professionalism serve as an example to the younger players in the Liverpool squad.
“Yes, but I don’t think he’s only this for this season: he has been that for several years. He came back really fit, but from what’s been told to me that’s normal for him,” Slot said at his post-match press conference.
“He always comes back really fit. But if I only use Mo as an example, I would not be fair to the other [senior] guys because the others are strong and fit as well. One of the main positive things until now is all the boys are fit, we have no injuries at all, so we hope we can continue like this and their fitness levels go up and up more.
“We felt today how hard it is and how tough it is to play against a team that wants to press us high – and we want to press them high. So, you need to be really fit to play games like this and we are working on this. We are heading in the right direction.”
Slot was pleased to see his side record their second win from two games on tour and emphasised the importance of building a winning culture at Anfield. He was delighted with his team’s defensive work against an Arsenal team who dominated possession.
“I think even though it’s a friendly, you always want to aim for a win. You should aim for a win even if you have a small-sided game during a training session. You need to win your games, you try to do everything to win. So that’s a good thing that we did that today but I’m more pleased about the way we did so. Of course I saw the second half that we had a hard time with Arsenal – they dominated possession completely. But we defended really well and I was really pleased to see this because [there were] a lot of bodies behind the ball every time they arrived into our 16.
“Real big, open chances I don’t think they created in the second half. First half, after the first 10 minutes, it was an equal game, where both teams could have scored a few goals more. So, [I’m] pleased to see how we played the first half and how we defended the second half.”
