Mohamed Salah has not started this season to his usual high standards and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes he knows why.
The forward has just three goals in 10 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions so far this season – including a current four-game goal-drought for the club.
Salah’s stuttering form has coincided with the Reds’ downturn in results too, with Arne Slot’s side having lost their last three matches prior to the October international break.
And while Carragher is quick to temper the notion that Salah’s peak has gone, he did state that he ‘does not look the same player as last season’, writing in his column for The Telegraph.
Ascertaining the reasons why, Carragher pointed out four key ‘mitigating’ factors to Salah’s form.
The first he pointed to is the death of Diogo Jota – and the visible emotion on Salah’s face as Liverpool fans sang chanted the Portuguese’s name.
Secondly, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure to Real Madrid has changed Liverpool’s style of play with he and Salah having developed an on-field understanding after seven years together. As Carragher rightly points out Salah ‘has played in front of four right-backs already this season; Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong, Dominik Szoboszlai and, briefly, Wataru Endo’.
Furthermore, Carragher points to the tactical tweak Slot has made this season which has seen teams able to exploit Salah compared to last season when it was the other way around.
‘One of the reasons he was so effective last season is because Slot designed the team around a ‘risk and reward’ strategy with his main goalscorer,’ Carragher writes.
‘He [Slot] encouraged him to stay up the pitch rather than consistently track back, trusting Szoboszlai, Alexander-Arnold or Ibrahima Konate to cover the right side of Liverpool’s defence when the team was counter-attacked.
‘The reshaping of the midfield, in addition to the changing personnel at full back and Konate’s inconsistent form, has enabled opponents to target Liverpool’s right side more productively.’
For Carragher though there is one reason that tops the list for Salah’s current form.
‘The biggest difference for Salah has been in the opposition half, as he missed three chances against Chelsea which would have changed the result.’
Elaborating further he adds: ‘The most worrying statistics demonstrate Salah’s difficulties go back to last March. In his last 21 Liverpool appearances, he has only five goals (two of which were penalties). He had struck 32 in his previous 42 games for his club.
‘In this year’s Premier League, his strike against Bournemouth is his only non-penalty goal so far. That has to change to end the latest chatter about whether his best is behind him.’
Salah will look to remind his critics of his goalscoring prowess on Sunday when Liverpool ‘welcome’ bitter rivals Manchester United to Anfield in the Premier League.
The fixture is a happy one for the 33-year-old who has scored 16 times when these two sides have met – seven more any player for either club.
