🔗 Share this article

It has been a while, but Mohamed Salah was back assuming the lead part in recent days with two goals in Morocco that confirmed the Egyptian team's spot at the global tournament. The main man claiming the limelight another time. The Reds require him to stay there.

Reasons for Inconsistent Performances

There are numerous causes why variable, unconvincing displays have been the common thread characterizing the team's opening to their league defense, whether they produced a winning streak or, prior to Manchester United's arrival to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, three losses in a row. The turmoil from so many offseason moves, the coach's search for his top team, the late forward's passing; the winger has endured the impact of them all during his unusually subdued beginning to the term.

The Weekend's Big Match

The weekend's key fixture could provide the impetus for the source of a impressive 16 goals in 17 appearances for the club against United, who are making their 100th appearance to the stadium and have not won at their biggest foes for almost a decade. Salah will pose the manager with a further unforeseen dilemma, though, if he remain lost in the disruption indefinitely.

Recent Form

Liverpool's boss must have recognized the irony of Salah's initial score against Djibouti in midweek. Struck immediately with the exterior of his stronger foot into the close post, his eighth score of Egypt's World Cup qualifying campaign originated from an nearly the same location to his expensive error in the Chelsea match before the international break.

Had that right-foot effort been scored moments after the resumption at Chelsea's ground we would even now be eulogising the new signing's maiden excellent pass in the English top flight. Inquests into Salah's decline and the team's infrequent defeat streak might also have been postponed. Instead, the midfielder's search continues while Slot stews over a third consecutive defeat away, two caused by late goals and one the outcome of a controversial spot-kick. Narrow differences, as Slot reiterated on recently, but they do not camouflage bigger issues.

Last Season's Impact

Salah was crucial in propelling the side towards a tying 20th championship last season while uncertainty over his long-term plans lingered in the backdrop. We achieved almost the best out of Mo that campaign,” said the manager when his leading striker signed a fresh deal in the spring. There has been a clear drop-off on an individual and team level since. The lineup, not the details of a deal, are responsible.

Statistical Drop

His production in terms of scores and setups is lower 50% on the same stage last season, from a combined 8 in the initial seven matches of 2024-25 to 4 (two goals and two assists) this term. His tally of shots has fallen from 22 to 12 while shots on target have dropped from fifteen to 5, contributing to a sharp decline in shot accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9 percent to 55.6 percent, figures show.

One attribute that has held more steady is his playmaking. With twelve chances created, versus fourteen at the comparable period of last campaign, his figures stay among the best in the continent and up in the ranks of young talents and rising stars, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years respectively.

Collective Performance

Indicators of collective output will trouble Slot more. He had 76 touches in the enemy box in the first seven matches of the prior campaign. This term's total is thirty-nine. The numbers are reflective of the team's issues as a whole. Just United and Arsenal have tried more shots on goal than Liverpool now, but the team's proportion of shots from within the six-yard area is the lowest in the division, their ratio from long range among the greatest. The club's percentage of efforts on goal – 28.4 percent – is as well among the lowest in the competition.

“In the first half of the previous campaign we mainly scored from an individual brilliance from a forward and in the second half it was more from a dead ball,” Slot said. “This season we have not seen as many sparks of quality and we have not found the net from set pieces. But we are still the team that from live action generates the most quality opportunities.”

Summer Arrivals

They aren't punishing rivals in the fashion the coach envisaged when Florian Wirtz, the French forward and Alexander Isak were signed in the offseason, although Liverpool remain the league's joint third-highest goalscorers. A tie on the weekend would be sufficient for him to reach the century of points in fewer games than any manager in the club's history (46). Think what his attack will do when it finally gels. Liverpool remain a team of exceptional skill, able to igniting and chasing any rival for the championship, but cohesion is absent. That can not be attributed on the recent arrivals alone.

Personal and Collective Issues

Salah is not the only established member to suffer a dip, with Alexis Mac Allister returning to form and Ibrahima Konaté laboring. But he is at the core of the upheaval that has of late affected the club. This extends to a individual level, with his grief over the death of Diogo Jota obvious on that emotional season opener against Bournemouth. The influence of Jota's death can neither be measured nor dismissed.

Strategic Adjustments

Last season, he