Mohamed Salah unleashed thanks to Arne Slot luxury as cruel Liverpool nickname a distant memory

The contrast between February 2024 and 2025 could hardly be different for the Liverpool squad.

Twelve months ago, the Reds were in the midst of a crippling injury crisis that was reaching almost comical levels and while many will look at February of 2024 as the month when the club won the Carabao Cup in memorable circumstances against Chelsea, the extraordinary length of absentees meant Jurgen Klopp was simply forced into trying to win a trophy with fledglings like James McConnell, Bobby Clark and Jayden Danns on the pitch.

The 1-0 win provided an incredible, feelgood story for the football club and its Academy staff in particular, but it was a situation that was thrust upon them rather than being anything by design. Had the injury situation been at a manageable level, Klopp would have turned to his more trusted and senior pros on the day no doubt.

Liverpool actually went into that game with 11 players sidelined and quickly saw that number move to a dozen when Ryan Gravenberch was stretched off after a dreadful challenge from Moises Caicedo. Wataru Endo left Wembley on crutches and in a protective boot that day too to take the number to an eye-watering 13.

The fitness concerns had started to pile up earlier in the month when the Reds went to Brentford already without several key men, including late drop-out Alisson Becker, and then saw Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones pick up knocks of varying severity.

It meant the Reds were having to try and navigate their way through a title challenge while the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Dominik Szoboszlai were all sidelined with Jota, Nunez, Jones, Salah and Alisson before Endo and Gravenberch swelled the numbers further.

At one stage, in fact, it was being jokingly suggested around the place that the name of the training base was set to change to the AXA Walk-in Centre, such was the punishing number of absentees. It was a glib jibe that bordered on cruel for those impacted, but there's a lot of truth said in jest.

This time out, only Alexander-Arnold is a concern and an update is expected when Liverpool learn more about the severity of the thigh issue that forced him off in the second half of Saturday's 2-0 win at Bournemouth.

Perhaps the player who best encapsulates the changing fortunes on the injury front is Salah, who looked a shadow of the player who had lit up the first half of last season with 18 goals prior to departing for the Africa Cup of Nations in January, where a hamstring injury in the Ivory Coast was followed by lingering issues that never really abated.

Now, he is injury free and up to 25 goals in all competitions. He became just the fifth player to register 20 for five successive Premier League seasons on Saturday, with his first-half penalty seeing him join legendary names like Alan Shearer, Sergio Augero, Harry Kane and Thierry Henry. Now up to sixth in the all-time list of scorers on 178, seven more will see him move beyond Manchester City great Augero and into the top five.

“You have to look at how many goals and assists he scores and just how important he is to the team," says former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise. "You don’t find many players with that quality.