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It's been a period, but Mohamed Salah was back taking on the starring role recently with two goals in Casablanca that secured Egypt's position at the global tournament. The main man claiming the spotlight once more. The Merseyside club require him to keep that position.

Causes for Unsteady Performances

We see numerous causes why unsteady, lackluster performances have been the frequent pattern characterizing the team's opening to their championship defense, whether they recorded seven wins in a row or, before Manchester United's visit to Anfield on Sunday, a losing run. The turmoil from multiple summer changes, Arne Slot's search for his best XI, Diogo Jota's passing; Salah has endured the impact of them all during his unusually subdued opening to the season.

The Weekend's Big Match

The weekend's big match could offer the catalyst for the cause of a record 16 scores in 17 games for the club against Manchester United, who are making their 100th appearance to Anfield and have not won at their archrivals for more than nine years. The attacker will pose Slot with an additional unexpected problem, though, if he continue lost in the turmoil much longer.

Recent Form

The team's boss likely seen the contrast of the player's opening strike against Djibouti in midweek. Drilled immediately with the outside of his stronger foot inside the front post, Salah's eighth strike of the national team's World Cup qualifying campaign came from an very similar spot to his big mistake versus Chelsea before the international break.

Had that right-foot effort been scored shortly after the restart at Chelsea's ground we would still be eulogising Florian Wirtz's maiden sublime setup in the English top flight. Inquests into Salah's dip and the team's rare defeat streak might also have been avoided. Rather, Wirtz's wait goes on while the coach stews over a third loss on the road, two inflicted by last-minute winners and one the outcome of a controversial spot-kick. Fine lines, as Slot reiterated on recently, but they do not mask bigger issues.

Previous Campaign's Impact

The forward was key in pushing the side towards a tying 20th crown the previous term while speculation over his long-term plans persisted in the background. We extracted almost the utmost out of Salah that campaign,” said the manager when his top scorer signed an extension in the spring. There has been a obvious decrease on an personal and collective level from then. The team, not the terms of a contract, are to blame.

Performance Drop

The 33-year-old's output in terms of goals and setups is down half on the corresponding point last season, from a combined eight in the initial seven matches of 2024-25 to four (a pair of goals and two assists) this season. His tally of attempts has decreased from twenty-two to 12 while efforts on goal have dropped from 15 to five, causing a sharp fall in shot accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9 percent to 55.6%, statistics show.

A single trait that has remained consistent is his chance creation. With 12 opportunities made, compared with fourteen at the comparable period of the previous season, his figures remain among the best in the continent and comparable in the group of Lamine Yamal and Arda Güler, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years respectively.

Collective Output

Metrics of team display will trouble the coach more. He had 76 touches in the opposition penalty area in the first seven league games of the previous term. This term's tally is thirty-nine. The numbers are reflective of the squad's difficulties overall. Only United and Arsenal have tried a greater number of attempts on goal than Liverpool now, but the team's proportion of attempts from inside the six-yard box is the smallest in the Premier League, their percentage from outside the area among the greatest. Liverpool's rate of shots on target – 28.4% – is as well among the lowest in the competition.

During the initial phase of the previous campaign we mainly scored from an individual brilliance from an attacker and in the later stage it was more from a set piece,” the manager said. “Now we lack as many moments of genius and we have not found the net from dead balls. But we are nonetheless the side that from live action produces the most xG chances.”

New Signings

They aren't beating foes in the manner Slot imagined when Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and the Swedish striker were acquired in the offseason, though Liverpool stay the league's equal third-top scorers. A tie on Sunday would be enough for him to attain the century of points in fewer games than any boss in the club's history (46). Think what his forward line will do when it does settle. Liverpool are still a team of supreme talent, equipped to sparking and reeling in any opponent for the title, but cohesion is lacking. That cannot be blamed on the summer recruits only.

Personal and Collective Problems

The player is not the only established member to experience a decline, with the midfielder regaining to match sharpness and Ibrahima Konaté struggling. But he is at the center of the disruption that has lately affected the club. This applies to a individual level, with Salah's sadness over the loss of Jota obvious on that poignant opening night against Bournemouth. The influence of his tragedy can not be assessed nor overlooked.

Strategic Changes

Last season, he