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It has been a while, but the Egyptian star returned taking on the starring role recently with two goals in Casablanca that confirmed Egypt's spot at the 2026 World Cup. The key player stepping on center stage once more. Liverpool need him to remain there.

Factors for Variable Displays

There are many reasons why unsteady, unimpressive performances have been the frequent pattern defining Liverpool's start to their championship defense, if they produced a winning streak or, before the Red Devils' trip to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, a losing run. The upheaval from so many new signings, the coach's hunt for his ideal lineup, Diogo Jota's loss; Salah has experienced the effect of them all during his atypically low-key start to the term.

Sunday's Big Match

The weekend's big match could offer the catalyst for the source of a impressive 16 goals in 17 games for Liverpool against Manchester United, who are making their centenary trip to the stadium and have not triumphed at their archrivals for over nine years. The attacker will pose the manager with a further unexpected problem, though, if he continue caught in the disruption for an extended period.

Latest Form

Liverpool's manager must have noticed the paradox of the player's first goal against the opponent recently. Swept directly with the exterior of his stronger foot into the close post, his eighth goal of Egypt's World Cup qualifying campaign was from an almost identical location to his expensive error against Chelsea prior to the international break.

If that right-foot effort been finished shortly after the restart at Chelsea's ground we would even now be celebrating the new signing's maiden superb pass in the Premier League. Discussions into Salah's dip and the team's infrequent defeat streak might as well have been delayed. Rather, the midfielder's search goes on while Slot stews over a third away defeat, a couple caused by dying-minute strikes and another the outcome of a debatable penalty. Narrow differences, as Slot emphasized on recently, but they do not camouflage bigger issues.

Previous Campaign's Contribution

Salah was instrumental in driving Liverpool towards a record-equalling 20th league title last season while doubt over his long-term plans rumbled in the backdrop. We achieved almost the utmost out of Salah this season,” said Slot when his top scorer signed a fresh deal in April. We have seen a noticeable decrease on an personal and collective level from then. The lineup, not the terms of a contract, are to blame.

Performance Drop

His contribution in terms of goals and setups is reduced half on the corresponding stage the previous term, from a total 8 in the opening seven matches of 2024-25 to 4 (a pair of goals and two assists) the current campaign. His number of shots has dropped from twenty-two to 12 while accurate shots have dropped from 15 to five, causing a sharp fall in shot accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6 percent, data show.

A single trait that has remained consistent is Salah's creativity. With twelve key passes, compared with fourteen at the comparable period of last campaign, his numbers are among the finest in the continent and comparable in the ranks of young talents and Arda Güler, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years each.

Collective Performance

Measures of collective performance will concern Slot further. He had 76 contacts in the enemy box in the initial seven matches of last season. This season's total is thirty-nine. The stats are symptomatic of the team's difficulties in general. Just United and Arsenal have tried a greater number of attempts on goal than Liverpool in the current term, but the team's rate of shots from inside the goal area is the smallest in the division, their percentage from long range among the highest. Liverpool's proportion of efforts on goal – 28.4% – is as well among the lowest in the competition.

“In the first half of last season we primarily found the net from a moment of magic from an attacker and in the later stage it was mostly from a set piece,” Slot said. “Now we lack as many sparks of quality and we haven’t scored from dead balls. But we are still the side that from open play produces the highest xG chances.”

New Signings

They aren't hurting foes in the fashion the coach envisaged when Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak were signed in the offseason, although the team are the league's equal third-top goalscorers. A tie on the weekend would be sufficient for him to achieve the 100-point mark in fewer games than any manager in the club's history (46). Consider what his forward line will do when it clicks. Liverpool remain a squad of outstanding talent, capable of igniting and chasing any rival for the championship, but cohesion is absent. That cannot be blamed on the recent arrivals by themselves.

Personal and Team Challenges

Salah is not the sole key member to experience a drop-off, with the midfielder regaining to form and Ibrahima Konaté struggling. But he is at the center of the turmoil that has recently engulfed the club. This goes to a individual level, with Salah's grief over the loss of Diogo Jota evident on that poignant first game against the Cherries. The impact of Jota's tragedy can not be quantified nor overlooked.

Tactical Changes

In the prior campaign, he