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It's been a period, but Mohamed Salah reappeared assuming the starring role last week with a brace in Morocco that sealed the Egyptian team's spot at the 2026 World Cup. The main man claiming center stage yet again. The Reds need him to stay there.

Reasons for Unsteady Showings

We see numerous causes why unsteady, unimpressive displays have been the recurring theme defining Liverpool's opening to their championship defense, whether they recorded a winning streak or, prior to Manchester United's visit to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, a losing run. The disruption from numerous summer changes, Arne Slot's hunt for his top team, the late forward's passing; Salah has experienced the effect of them all during his atypically subdued beginning to the season.

The Weekend's Big Match

Sunday's big match could provide the spark for the cause of a impressive 16 goals in 17 outings for Liverpool against Manchester United, who are paying 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 unforeseen dilemma, however, if he continue caught in the upheaval indefinitely.

Latest Performance

Liverpool's head coach likely recognized the paradox of Salah's first goal against the opponent recently. Struck immediately with the exterior of his left foot into the near post, Salah's eighth score of Egypt's qualifying effort originated from an almost identical location to his big mistake against Chelsea prior to the national team pause.

Had that right-foot effort been finished shortly after the restart at Stamford Bridge we would even now be eulogising Florian Wirtz's maiden excellent pass in the Premier League. Analyses into Salah's decline and the team's rare losing streak might as well have been avoided. Instead, Wirtz's search continues while Slot fumes over a third consecutive defeat away, two caused by last-minute winners and one the outcome of a controversial spot-kick. Narrow differences, as he repeated on Friday, but they do not camouflage underlying concerns.

Previous Campaign's Influence

The forward was instrumental in driving Liverpool towards a tying 20th league title the previous term while speculation over his career persisted in the background. We achieved nearly the maximum out of Mo last term,” said Slot when his leading striker signed a fresh deal in the spring. We have seen a noticeable drop-off on an individual and team level from then. The lineup, not the details of a deal, are accountable.

Performance Decline

His contribution in terms of goals and setups is reduced half on the corresponding stage the previous term, from a combined 8 in the first seven league games of 2024-25 to 4 (a pair of goals and two assists) this season. His tally of attempts has dropped from twenty-two to twelve while efforts on goal have declined from fifteen to 5, leading to a steep fall in shooting accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9 percent to 55.6%, statistics show.

A single trait that has remained consistent is his creativity. With twelve opportunities made, against fourteen at the equivalent point of last campaign, his figures stay among the best in the continent and comparable in the company of young talents and Arda Güler, his younger counterparts by fifteen and thirteen years each.

Team Output

Metrics of team output will concern Slot more. Salah had seventy-six contacts in the enemy penalty area in the initial seven fixtures of the previous term. This term's total is thirty-nine. The numbers are reflective of the team's difficulties as a whole. Just United and Arsenal have tried more shots on goal than them in the current term, but Liverpool's rate of attempts from within the six-yard box is the poorest in the division, their share from outside the area among the greatest. The club's proportion of shots on target – 28.4 percent – is also among the poorest in the league.

During the initial phase of the previous campaign we mostly scored from an individual brilliance from one of our front three and in the second half it was more from a dead ball,” Slot said. “Currently we haven’t had as many acts of brilliance and we haven’t scored from set pieces. But we are still the team that from live action produces the highest expected goals opportunities.”

Summer Arrivals

They are not hurting foes in the fashion Slot planned when Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and the Swedish striker were acquired this summer, while the team stay the division's joint third-highest goalscorers. A draw on Sunday would be enough for him to attain the 100-point mark in fewer games than any coach in Liverpool's history (46). Think what his attack will do when it finally gels. Liverpool remain a team of outstanding talent, capable of sparking and chasing any opponent for the championship, but synergy is missing. This can not be pinned on the recent arrivals by themselves.

Individual and Collective Problems

The player is not the only senior player to experience a decline, with the midfielder working his way back to match sharpness and Ibrahima Konaté toiling. But he ends up at the core of the upheaval that has of late engulfed Liverpool. That applies to a personal level, with Salah's sadness over the loss of Diogo Jota obvious on that poignant first game against the Cherries. The influence of his tragedy can neither be quantified nor overlooked.

Tactical Shifts

Last season, he