Mohamed Salah‘s role in the Liverpool setup this season has prompted concern from supporters – and Arne Slot may need a new Plan A when it comes to the Egyptian.There’s no way to guarantee winning a football match.It doesn’t matter what you won last year, what you spend in the market or how many subs you can make. All a manager can do is make a judgement call, to weigh the risk versus the reward and then act accordingly.Arne Slot has had a lot of tools to work with since joining Liverpool, but he’s also got a lot of his calls right.Now he’s lost three matches in a row for the first time ever, he has more calls to make.Part of Slot’s successful takeover from Jurgen Klopp was down to the overlap in their styles. But while Slot is happy to press aggressively, he prefers to have a plus-one in his back line.If he’s playing against a lone striker, he wants two defenders back, and if it’s a strike partnership he wants three in the last line.To achieve this, Liverpool press in a 4-2-4 shape but with fewer players committed to the press. Slot’s team has fewer high regains than Klopp’s, but they concede fewer chances and lower-quality chances.This worked brilliantly in his first season, as teams initially enjoyed the lower intensity of the high press only to be stymied in the final third and then punished on the break.But with a target on their back from winning the league, Liverpool now have to deal with opponents trying to negate that plus-one by overloading that last line.We saw this against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.When triggered, Liverpool ‘jump’ into a player-for-player press. This means Ryan Gravenberch can be dragged out of position by Enzo Fernandez, and Alexis Mac Allister is caught between Malo Gusto and Moises Caicedo, who is able to receive and get away.Chelsea are now running at Liverpool’s back line, and with six Blues up against the back four there’s nobody free to close down Caicedo.This allows him to score a rocket, and it highlighted Chelsea‘s ability to create overloads against Liverpool’s structure.Gary Neville was harsh on Conor Bradley post-game, likening his battle with Alejandro Garnacho to a boxing match that the Chelsea man was “shaving on points.”But for most of his 45 minutes on the pitch, Bradley wasn’t in a one-vs-one duel at all, but dealing with both Garnacho and left-back Marc Cucurella at the same time.This was intentional, with Cucurella even revealing post-match that his role was designed to exploit a lack of tracking back by Mohamed Salah.But while this has quickly been construed as a sign of Salah’s ego or declining legs, the reality is that he has been used in this way ever since Slot arrived at the club – to title-winning effect.Look at the goal again. As Mac Allister challenges Caicedo, Salah isn’t tracking Cucurella. He’s actually starting to sprint forwards – away from the player he ‘should’ be marking.When the duel is lost, Salah is miles away from Cucurella. But if the duel had been won, as it often was last season, he would have been miles away from Cucurella – and free to run at Chelsea‘s centre-backs.We saw this for Liverpool’s best chance of the first half. Here, it’s Chelsea who lose the duel, and Cucurella – pushed forwards – is never catching Salah.This gives Salah a free run at centre-back Benoit Badiashile, backing him off and creating space for a cross which is headed over.Once again, it’s a tradeoff – risk versus reward.Last season, Salah finished with a frightening consistency, and this setup is still generating chances for him. But they’re now consistently being wasted.Slot withdrew Bradley at half-time, with the youngster on a booking. But Liverpool’s equaliser showed this was as much tactical as it was psychological.Bradley’s more conventional positioning in buildup meant it was easy for Chelsea to block passing lanes to him.Garnacho looked to press Ibrahima Konate and Cucurella jumped up to mark Bradley.However, putting a natural midfielder in Dominik Szoboszlai to right-back and Gravenberch in at centre-back gave Liverpool greater variety in their buildup positioning and created a tension for Garnacho.Stay on the centre-back and leave Szoboszlai free, or track Szoboszlai and let Gravenberch carry the ball out?This confused press meant that Liverpool could find Szoboszlai in space, and he drove forwards to combine with Salah and cross in for the equalising goal.This adjustment shows that, rather than relying on lazy analysis of work rate or boxing metaphors, Slot is watching the game and adjusting appropriately.He has a habit of finding a Plan B that solves the weaknesses of his Plan A.But for his side to regain their control from last season, it might be time to design a new Plan A: one that allows his team to start games on the front foot and stay there – though, as ever, there are no guarantees of success.