Ian Doyle with the talking points from Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Qarabag at Anfield on Wednesday evening
05:00, 29 Jan 2026Updated 00:15, 30 Jan 2026
Mohamed Salah taps the Liverpool badge after his fine free-kick made it 3-0 against Qarabag at Anfield(Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
The collective groan from the majority of the Anfield crowd could probably be heard all the way back in Azerbaijan. Just when Arne Slot’s selection headache couldn’t get any worse, it absolutely did.
Barely minutes were on the clock when Jeremie Frimpong, chasing back on the right flank, began to hobble holding his groin before eventually crumpling to the turf.
Slot had attracted criticism for replacing what he saw as a tiring Frimpong relatively early in the second half at Bournemouth on Saturday with Liverpool still chasing the game. The Reds boss, though, would not have wanted that caution to have been proven correct in such damaging fashion.
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With Conor Bradley out for the season, Calvin Ramsay ineligible for this competition and Joe Gomez sidelined, it meant Wataru Endo was forced into an emergency defensive role for the second time in four days alongside stand-in centre-back Ryan Gravenberch.
It’s unlikely Liverpool will move for a right-back before Monday’s transfer deadline given both Bradley and Frimpong will eventually return and Gomez could be back for Saturday.
But Frimpong’s likely extended absence could finally end any lingering doubts Andy Robertson may still leave for Tottenham Hotspur and surely give Liverpool serious consideration of bringing forward an expected summer swoop for a centre-back.
The Reds need to give Slot more options right now.
Salah doubts banished
Mohamed Salah opened his arms in front of the adoring Kop and accepted the acclaim. And then the Egyptian pointed to his badge before punching the air in delight.
And with it banished any lingering doubts the winger remains firmly committed to the Liverpool cause after concerns were quite obviously raised by his outburst at Leeds United at the start of December.
After his encouraging return at Marseille was followed by a dismal showing in the defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday, this was a clear step in the right direction for Salah.
And how the winger needed his goal – thumping into the top corner from 20 yards after Dominik Szoboszlai repaid the compliment of the weekend by rolling the ball into his path at a free-kick – after a first half in which he was, if anything, guilty of trying too hard.
Only his sixth of the season for Liverpool, it was Salah’s first for the Reds since November 1 and just his second in his last eight games in the Champions League.
He now needs only one more strike to become the first African ever to reach a half-century in the competition.
Set-piece FC
Who knew set-pieces were like buses? Having struggled so much to convert dead-ball situations this season, now Liverpool are becoming increasingly proficient.
Along with Salah’s strike, Alexis Mac Allister profited from the confusion caused by Szoboszlai’s corner delivery to open the scoring from close range.
With both goals against Bournemouth coming from set-pieces after Szoboszlai’s clever free-kick in Marseille, it’s now five in three games for Liverpool. That’s almost Arsenalesque.
Liverpool’s rare dominance of both the scoreline and possession provided Slot with the ideal opportunity to give teenagers Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni much-needed minutes, particularly with the Reds so down on options.
Illness for Curtis Jones meant that, once Frimpong departed, Liverpool were missing seven senior players while youngsters Jayden Danns and Wellity Lucky were also absent.
Nyoni was quietly composed in an advanced midfield role while Ngumoha roused the crowd with a couple of trademark runs.
Federico Chiesa, though, was the most successful of the attacking substitutions by capping the victory with just a fifth Reds goal.
And there was also the personal positive for Amara Nallo of negotiating his second-half cameo without being dismissed at the third time of asking in his burgeoning career.