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It has been some time, but Mohamed Salah was back taking on the starring role last week with a brace in Morocco that sealed the Egyptian team's position at the 2026 World Cup. The star taking center stage another time. The Reds need him to keep that position.

Causes for Variable Showings

There are numerous reasons why unsteady, unimpressive displays have been the frequent pattern running through Liverpool's opening to their title defence, whether they achieved a winning streak or, prior to Manchester United's visit to Liverpool's home ground on the weekend, three consecutive defeats. The turmoil from multiple offseason moves, the coach's quest for his best XI, Diogo Jota's tragic death; Salah has endured the consequences of them all during his unusually quiet start to the season.

The Weekend's Key Fixture

The weekend's key fixture could provide the catalyst for the source of a record 16 goals in 17 games for Liverpool against Manchester United, who are paying their centenary trip to the stadium and have not succeeded at their fierce rivals for almost a decade. The attacker will present the manager with a further unforeseen dilemma, though, should he continue caught in the disruption indefinitely.

Current Form

The team's manager likely seen the contrast of Salah's opening strike against Djibouti recently. Swept directly with the exterior of his left foot into the near post, his eighth goal of the national team's World Cup qualifying campaign came from an very similar location to his big mistake against Chelsea before the break for internationals.

If that right-foot effort been scored moments after the restart at Chelsea's ground we would still be eulogising Florian Wirtz's first superb pass in the Premier League. Discussions into Salah's drop and the team's unusual defeat streak might also have been postponed. Rather, Wirtz's wait persists while the coach stews over a third defeat away, two inflicted by last-minute winners and one the result of a controversial spot-kick. Small margins, as he reiterated on Friday, but they do not camouflage bigger issues.

Last Season's Impact

Salah was key in pushing Liverpool towards a record-equalling 20th championship the previous term while doubt over his career lingered in the backdrop. We achieved nearly the utmost out of Mo last term,” said Slot when his leading striker signed a fresh deal in April. We have seen a clear drop-off on an personal and team level since. The lineup, not the terms of a contract, are accountable.

Statistical Decrease

The 33-year-old's production in terms of scores and assists is down half on the corresponding stage the previous term, from a combined 8 in the initial seven fixtures of 2024-25 to 4 (a pair of goals and a couple of assists) this season. His tally of attempts has fallen from twenty-two to 12 while accurate shots have dropped from 15 to 5, leading to a steep drop in shooting accuracy (not counting blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6 percent, figures show.

A single trait that has remained consistent is his chance creation. With 12 opportunities made, versus fourteen at the equivalent point of last campaign, his stats are among the finest in the continent and comparable in the company of Lamine Yamal and rising stars, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years each.

Collective Performance

Measures of collective performance will worry the coach more. He had seventy-six touches in the opposition penalty area in the first seven fixtures of last season. This season's tally is 39. The stats are symptomatic of the team's difficulties as a whole. Just Manchester United and the Gunners have tried more attempts on goal than them in the current term, but Liverpool's rate of attempts from inside the goal area is the smallest in the Premier League, their ratio from outside the area among the greatest. The club's proportion of accurate shots – 28.4 percent – is also among the lowest in the league.

“In the first half of last season we primarily scored from a moment of magic from an attacker and in the second half it was mostly from a free-kick or corner,” the manager said. “This season we haven’t had as many sparks of quality and we haven’t scored from set pieces. But we are still the side that from general play generates the highest quality opportunities.”

New Signings

They are not beating rivals in the fashion Slot envisaged when Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak were signed recently, though the team are the league's joint third-highest goalscorers. A draw on the weekend would be enough for him to achieve the century of points in less games than any boss in Liverpool's history (forty-six). Consider what his offense will do when it clicks. The side remain a team of exceptional skill, able to sparking and catching any rival for the title, but cohesion is absent. That can not be blamed on the recent arrivals alone.

Individual and Team Challenges

Salah is not the sole established member to suffer a drop-off, with the midfielder returning to match sharpness and Ibrahima Konaté toiling. But he ends up at the center of the turmoil that has recently enveloped Liverpool. This goes to a personal level, with Salah's sorrow over the death of Diogo Jota evident on that poignant first game against Bournemouth. The influence of Jota's tragedy can neither be measured nor ignored.

Strategic Shifts

In the prior campaign, he