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It's been some time, but Mohamed Salah was back assuming the starring role last week with a brace in Morocco that confirmed Egypt's place at the upcoming World Cup. The key player stepping on the limelight another time. The Merseyside club require him to stay there.

Reasons for Variable Performances

There exist several factors why unsteady, lackluster showings have been the frequent pattern running through the team's beginning to their title defence, whether they recorded seven straight victories or, before the Red Devils' arrival to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, a losing run. The turmoil from numerous new signings, the coach's search for his top team, the late forward's passing; Salah has experienced the effect of them all during his atypically low-key start to the campaign.

The Weekend's Key Fixture

The weekend's big match could offer the catalyst for the cause of a record 16 goals in 17 outings for the club against Manchester United, who are paying their centenary trip to Anfield and have not won at their fierce rivals for more than nine years. The attacker will present the manager with a further unforeseen dilemma, yet, if he continue lost in the turmoil indefinitely.

Latest Form

Liverpool's head coach must have seen the paradox of the player's opening strike against the opponent last Wednesday. Struck immediately with the outside of his stronger foot inside the near post, his eighth strike of the national team's World Cup qualifying campaign was from an very similar location to his costly miss in the Chelsea match prior to the break for internationals.

If that right-foot effort been converted shortly after the resumption at Chelsea's ground we would even now be praising the new signing's first sublime pass in the Premier League. Discussions into Salah's dip and Liverpool's infrequent losing streak might also have been avoided. Rather, Wirtz's search goes on while the coach fumes over a third away defeat, a couple due to dying-minute strikes and one the outcome of a controversial spot-kick. Small margins, as he reiterated on recently, but they do not camouflage larger problems.

Previous Campaign's Impact

Salah was crucial in propelling the side towards a tying 20th league title the previous term while speculation over his long-term plans persisted in the backdrop. “We brought almost the maximum out of Salah last term,” said the manager when his top scorer signed an extension in April. We have seen a noticeable decrease on an individual and team level from then. The lineup, not the details of a contract, are accountable.

Statistical Drop

The 33-year-old's output in terms of scores and setups is lower half on the same point the previous term, from a combined 8 in the opening seven matches of 2024-25 to four (a pair of goals and a couple of assists) this season. The count of attempts has dropped from twenty-two to twelve while accurate shots have fallen from 15 to five, contributing to a sharp decline in shot accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6%, statistics show.

One attribute that has remained consistent is Salah's chance creation. With 12 key passes, compared with fourteen at the comparable period of last campaign, his stats stay among the finest in Europe and up in the company of young talents and Arda Güler, his younger counterparts by fifteen and 13 years respectively.

Team Display

Measures of team display will concern Slot more. Salah had 76 touches in the enemy penalty area in the opening seven matches of last season. This season's count is thirty-nine. The stats are symptomatic of the squad's issues overall. Only Manchester United and the Gunners have taken more shots on goal than Liverpool this season, but Liverpool's percentage of attempts from within the six-yard area is the smallest in the top flight, their share from long range among the highest. The club's percentage of accurate shots – 28.4 percent – is also among the lowest in the competition.

During the initial phase of the previous campaign we mostly found the net from a special moment from an attacker and in the later stage it was more from a free-kick or corner,” Slot said. “Now we lack as many moments of genius and we haven’t scored from set pieces. But we are nonetheless the team that from live action generates the most xG chances.”

New Signings

They are not beating foes in the way the coach imagined when Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak were brought on board this summer, though the team remain the division's equal third-top goalscorers. A draw on Sunday would be enough for him to reach the 100-point mark in less games than any boss in the club's history (46). Think what his offense will do when it does settle. Liverpool are still a team of supreme individual quality, equipped to igniting and chasing any rival for the title, but unity is absent. That can not be blamed on the new signings only.

Personal and Collective Challenges

The player is not the only established player to experience a decline, with Alexis Mac Allister returning to match sharpness and the defender laboring. But he finds himself at the heart of the upheaval that has recently engulfed the club. That applies to a personal level, with Salah's sadness over the death of Jota obvious on that emotional season opener against the Cherries. The impact of his death can neither be measured nor ignored.

Tactical Changes

Last season, he