Arne Slott and Michael Owen agree there are five ‘reasons’ behind Liverpool’s recent struggles with Mohamed Salah…
Salah has performed quite well over the past few seasons…
The 33-year-old clashed with Jurgen Klopp on the way to leaving the former Liverpool manager, and was also criticized for his disappointing performance in 2023-24.
Salah felt like he was on borrowed time at Anfield as he was entering the final year of his contract at the start of the 2024/25 season and was also linked with a move to the Saudi Professional League.
However, Slott’s arrival breathed new life into Salah, and the head coach’s tactical tweaks brought out the best in the Egyptian international, resulting in his best season as an individual and helping the Reds win their 20th Premier League title in the Dutchman’s first season as manager.
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However, this season is a different story.
Salah, once the Premier League’s best player, has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season, as he has been wasteful in attack and often on the periphery.
This has led to calls for Slott to let Salah go, with Liverpool’s head coach claiming the three “reasons” for his difficulties this season are a lack of “sharpness”, the need to “find new connections” and that he is “human”.
“I don’t know if it’s sharpness. It’s very hard to say why, but I think players in general miss opportunities, and Mo is a human being too,” Slott said in Friday’s pregame press conference.
“We’re not used to him missing chances several games in a row, but these things happen.
“The important thing is that Mo has always scored goals for the club. My biggest concern is for Mo to start scoring again, because that’s what he’s been doing all his life and that’s what I expect him to do for our club in the coming weeks and months.”
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He added: “Probably as a Liverpool player he has played with Trent so it could happen.”
“But he’s often been in promising positions enough to score goals, and with Trent it might be even more so.
“But in general, when there are considerable changes in the summer, everyone has to find new connections again. Mo is no exception, because he is a human being like all the other players.”
“In an ideal world, you would be playing the same team every time. For a team that plays every three days, that’s not realistic.
“But even if we wanted to, it wasn’t possible because Jeremy Frimpong was also in and out with a few injuries, as was Conor Bradley. So I think that might be one of the reasons why we haven’t been as consistent as we were last season.”
Pundit Michael Owen agreed with Slott, saying that while personnel were a factor affecting Salah, with him, Conor Bradley and Trent Alexander-Arnold to blame, age could also be a factor.
Owen said: “Salah has been scoring goals for years and years and it won’t surprise anyone if he scores in the next game and keeps going. If there’s one player in the Premier League you shouldn’t doubt, it’s him.”
“That said, age could be a factor if something further happens. He’s 33 now. I retired at that age myself, so it can’t go on forever.
“That’s one possible reason. The other is that he doesn’t have Trent Alexander-Arnold feeding him the ball anymore. The dynamics have changed.”
He added: “Conor Bradley plays differently. It looks like he’s running past Salah rather than serving him. My analysis on TV shows that Salah is picking up the ball about 10 per cent deeper on average than last season.”
“The tactics haven’t changed, but the personnel have. Or maybe the team just hasn’t fired yet. All attacking players go through periods like this. Maybe it’s just a temporary thing and he’ll bounce back quickly, but it could be a bit of all of the above.”
