Welcome to The Debrief, a Sky Sports column in which Adam Bate uses a blend of data and opinion to reflect on some of the key stories from the latest Premier League matches. This week:
- Salah in clear decline but Slot is not helping
- 'Fantastic' Buendia's impact for Aston Villa
- Cherki's rare creativity for Manchester City
Salah in decline but Slot culpable too
Mohamed Salah did not even play at the weekend but the Liverpool forward was still the biggest story in the Premier League following his incendiary remarks in the aftermath of his side's 3-3 draw against Leeds. Salah's relationship with Arne Slot has broken down.
Slot's management of Salah this season has been difficult to comprehend. After playing all but a few minutes of Liverpool's first dozen games of the Premier League season, the Egyptian has been omitted three times in a row, twice remaining an unused substitute.
As a result, even those supporters who had been calling for him to be rested and rotated have been left perplexed. Salah's own words - "I am sitting on the bench and I do not know why" - will encourage his admirers to view him as a victim of some vendetta.
Others will be appalled at Salah's selfishness at a time when Liverpool are struggling. They will point to the fact that Salah's form has dipped dramatically. Take out penalties and he has scored six goals in 33 games for the club in all competitions since late February.
As ever, the truth is likely to lie somewhere in the middle. Salah, at 33 years old, does appear to be in sharp decline - and quite possibly denial. And yet, that does not mean he is incapable of remaining a key figure for Liverpool if handled correctly by the coach.
Let us look at those numbers. The season-by-season data highlights clearly why Salah's poor form has attracted such comment. Prior to the current campaign, his consistency was remarkable, justifying his status as a true Premier League great.
While the goals have stopped flowing, so have the number of chances he is creating for others. Expected assists are a fairer measure of creativity because they do not rely on whether the team-mate finishes the chance. They too are at a record low.
Why? Well, Jamie Carragher's assertion that Salah's legs have gone might seem cruel but the explosive ball-carrier of old is no more. Salah's dribble success rate has dropped below 25 per cent this season for the first time in his eight-year Liverpool career.
Adjusting to a changing skill set is difficult but the great wingers learn to adapt. John Barnes, another Liverpool legend, moved into midfield. Cristiano Ronaldo, whose longevity Salah would love to emulate, moved up front.
This is another reason why Slot can be considered partially culpable in hastening Salah's decline. His initial tweak to Liverpool's system, attempting to accommodate Florian Wirtz in a 4-2-3-1 formation, effectively moved Salah further away from the opposition goal.
Even when Liverpool have reverted to their more familiar 4-3-3, it has often featured Conor Bradley making underlapping runs to create space for Salah on the touchline. Perhaps not ideal at a time when his ability to beat his marker appears diminished by age.
Salah's touches inside the box per 90 minutes are also down this season, yet another metric that has hit record lows. Maybe he feels he has been set up to fail? "I don't know why, but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone does not want me in the club."
The reality is that Slot was faced with a tricky task. Liverpool knew they had to evolve and become less reliant on Salah as his powers inevitably waned. Managing his ego through that process would always be delicate. Few expected it to be quite this combustible.
Buendia's impact off Villa's bench
There was a lot of negativity surrounding Aston Villa's summer transfer window. Against that backdrop, it was easy to ignore the fact that Emiliano Buendia stayed. Harvey Elliott did come in but now he finds himself well behind the Argentine in the pecking order.
Buendia justified that in spectacular style with his impactful cameo in Aston Villa's 2-1 win over Arsenal. He was the decisive figure, scoring the 95th-minute winner but had the Holte End gasping just moments before when he brought a ball down from the sky.
His energy and determination was evident in the build-up to his goal too, helping him to make yet another telling contribution to Villa's season. Buendia also came off the bench to win the game for his side against Arsenal's north London rivals Tottenham in October.
Perhaps surprisingly, Buendia is Villa's joint-top scorer in the Premier League this season with four goals. He has outscored both Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins despite playing a fraction of their minutes, having only started six of Villa's 15 matches.
Buendia is probably not in Villa's strongest side but Unai Emery knows that he will need his squad when competing on different fronts. Speaking to the Villa boss in the press conference afterwards was an opportunity to ask about Buendia. "Fantastic," he replied.
"How he is responding on the field when we are needing him and adapting, how we are competing. Today, his impact was fantastic and his competitive way, because he is a competitor, and he showed through it his quality and he scored a fantastic goal."
Cherki's creativity for Man City
There was no doubt who was the statistical star of the Premier League weekend. Rayan Cherki topped the charts for assists, chances created from open play, dribbles completed, successful passes in the final third and touches inside the opposition box.
Although Manchester City have had some supreme footballers, neither Kevin De Bruyne nor David Silva ever created this many chances - six - and completed this many dribbles - five - within the same game. It was an extraordinary performance by Cherki.
Of course, his most eye-catching moment in Manchester City's comfortable 3-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday was his rabona assist for Phil Foden's headed goal. And yet, Pep Guardiola's praise afterwards was couched in a warning to the Frenchman.
"In the final third he had something special but what I admire the most about Rayan is not the skills," Guardiola told reporters. "I never saw [Lionel] Messi play a cross like he has done. Messi is the best player to play the game but I never saw these kind of crosses."
He continued: "Crosses are fine, right or left foot it does not matter. If it is effective it is fine. But I like simplicity. Messi never made a mistake with the simple things. The simple things he does perfectly, then he dribbles past four or five players.
"I want players to do the simple things well and, after that, if you have special talent he can do whatever he wants. But if it does not work it will be a problem, he will be in trouble." A little harsh, perhaps, but the sort of words that Cherki might need to hear.
Speaking to Jean-Francois Vulliez in the summer, Lyon's former academy chief who worked with Cherki when he was a youngster, what was striking was this sense of a talent unchecked. "It was too easy for him," Vulliez told Sky Sports. He had to learn.
"Now, he is able to understand that he has to play for the team, not just himself, and that way he can help the team to win. That was always the last step." Guardiola is still trying to get across the need for Cherki to do the boring parts as well as have his fun.
"In his career I have the feeling he has done whatever he wants," said the City boss. "Here, he has to do what he has to do for the team. When he is able to do it, he will play a lot of minutes for many years at this club." If that happens, it will be a great watch.
