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It's been some time, but Mohamed Salah returned playing the main part recently with a brace in Casablanca that confirmed the Egyptian team's place at the 2026 World Cup. The star taking the limelight once more. The Merseyside club need him to remain there.

Causes for Unsteady Displays

There are numerous factors why unsteady, unconvincing displays have been the frequent pattern running through the team's opening to their championship defense, whether they recorded seven wins in a row or, before Manchester United's arrival to Liverpool's home ground on the weekend, three consecutive defeats. The turmoil from numerous summer changes, the coach's hunt for his best XI, Diogo Jota's loss; the winger has felt the effect of them all during his atypically low-key start to the campaign.

Sunday's Key Fixture

Sunday's key fixture could deliver the spark for the source of a impressive 16 strikes in 17 outings for Liverpool against United, who are paying their 100th appearance to Anfield and have not succeeded at their biggest foes for over nine years. The attacker will create the manager with an additional surprise issue, though, if he continue lost in the disruption for an extended period.

Latest Display

Liverpool's manager must have recognized the contrast of the player's opening strike against Djibouti last Wednesday. Swept directly with the exterior of his stronger foot inside the near post, Salah's eighth strike of the national team's qualifying effort was from an nearly the same position to his expensive error versus Chelsea before the break for internationals.

If that shot with his right been scored shortly after the resumption at Chelsea's ground we would even now be eulogising Florian Wirtz's first excellent pass in the English top flight. Inquests into his decline and the team's rare losing streak might also have been postponed. Instead, the midfielder's search goes on while the coach stews over a third loss on the road, a couple caused by late goals and one the result of a debatable penalty. Small margins, as he repeated on Friday, but they do not mask bigger issues.

Last Season's Influence

The forward was instrumental in pushing the side towards a record-equalling 20th championship the previous term while speculation over his future lingered in the backdrop. “We brought nearly the utmost out of Mo that campaign,” said the manager when his leading striker signed a fresh deal in April. We have seen a clear drop-off on an individual and team level from then. The lineup, not the details of a contract, are to blame.

Statistical Decline

His output in terms of scores and assists is down 50% on the corresponding point last season, from a combined 8 in the first seven fixtures of last season to 4 (a pair of goals and two assists) this term. His tally of shots has dropped from 22 to twelve while accurate shots have fallen from fifteen to 5, causing a significant fall in shooting accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9 percent to 55.6 percent, data show.

One attribute that has remained consistent is his chance creation. With twelve key passes, versus fourteen at the same stage of last term, his stats remain among the best in the continent and comparable in the ranks of Lamine Yamal and rising stars, his younger counterparts by 15 and thirteen years respectively.

Collective Output

Metrics of collective performance will concern the coach further. He had seventy-six contacts in the opposition box in the initial seven fixtures of the prior campaign. The current campaign's total is 39. The stats are symptomatic of the team's difficulties overall. Only United and Arsenal have taken more attempts on goal than them now, but the team's proportion of shots from within the goal area is the smallest in the Premier League, their ratio from long range among the greatest. Liverpool's percentage of shots on target – 28.4 percent – is as well among the weakest in the competition.

“In the first half of last season we mostly scored from a moment of magic from one of our front three and in the second half it was more from a dead ball,” the manager said. “Currently we have not seen as many moments of genius and we have not found the net from dead balls. But we are nonetheless the team that from general play generates the highest xG chances.”

New Signings

They aren't hurting foes in the manner the coach envisaged when Wirtz, the French forward and Alexander Isak were signed in the offseason, while Liverpool remain the league's joint third-highest scorers. A draw on the weekend would be sufficient for Slot to achieve the 100-point total in less games than any coach in the club's past (forty-six). Consider what his attack will do when it clicks. The side remain a squad of exceptional skill, able to igniting and reeling in any opponent for the championship, but unity is missing. That can not be pinned on the summer recruits alone.

Personal and Team Issues

The player is not the only established member to suffer a drop-off, with Alexis Mac Allister regaining to form and Ibrahima Konaté laboring. But he is at the heart of the turmoil that has recently enveloped Liverpool. That applies to a personal level, with Salah's sadness over the death of Jota evident on that poignant opening night against the Cherries. The effect of his death can not be quantified nor ignored.

Strategic Adjustments

Last season, he