Arne Slot makes Mohamed Salah future prediction after Liverpool heroics

Arne Slot believes Mohamed Salah has "many more years" left in the top flight after the Liverpool star helped see off Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Saturday.

Salah laid on an assist for Diogo Jota to break the deadlock on the hour mark in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off before the Egyptian scored himself five minutes later to help Slot become the first Reds boss in 33 years to win his first game in charge.

Salah is into the final year of his terms at Anfield and turned 32 in June but his new manager is adamant the No.11 still has plenty to give for the long haul.

On Salah, who can now lay claim to 14 goal contributions in the opening fixtures of his Premier League seasons at Liverpool, Slot said after the 2-0 victory: “If I see what he does to keep his body as it is to be ready to play every game, then I think there are many more years inside of him to play.

“But I’m looking now at Brentford and not the end of the season.

“For me it’s always about the team, so if an individual's performance is really good that is because the team does really well.

“Everyone is emphasising on the goal Mo scored and the assist he had, but both goals were from a build-up situation, started one time from Virgil (van Dijk) and another with Alisson (Becker)

“We need to make sure that these attacking players come into promising positions and the team needs to help with that."

The game saw Ryan Gravenberch start as one of two No.6s in the Reds midfield alongside Alexis Mac Allister just days after Real Soceidad's Martin Zubimendi had turned down the chance to move to Anfield.

“It’s the same Ryan," Slot said. "Of course, Ryan is attacking minded but if we play with him (as a No.6) then the rest of the team needs to help him as well. It takes a lot of effort from the attackers and attacking midfielders to help him there.

“What we do know from Ryan is that he can play the ball forward if he sees options to do so, and that helped us today especially in the second half.

“Defending, we do with 11, not one player. We need to help Ryan as we do with all the others. It is not that only Virgil and Ibou (Ibrahima Konate), or Virgil and Jarell (Quansah), are defending.

"We defend with 11 to help Ryan or whoever is playing there. Macca played there a lot last season and I think he has certain qualities that Ryan has as well.

“When you look at both players, the first thing you look at is with the ball, in possession. That’s why, we as a team, we have to make sure whoever is playing in that position is not too exposed.

“That’s what happened today because the team really helped to defend in the best possible way. Because of that Ryan had a very good performance."