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It's been a while, but Liverpool's forward reappeared playing the lead part in recent days with a double in Morocco that confirmed the Egyptian team's place at the upcoming World Cup. The star stepping on center stage another time. The Merseyside club require him to stay there.

Reasons for Inconsistent Performances

There are numerous factors why variable, unconvincing displays have been the frequent pattern running through the team's beginning to their title defence, if they recorded seven wins in a row or, before Manchester United's visit to Liverpool's home ground on the weekend, a losing run. The upheaval from so many offseason moves, the coach's quest for his best XI, Diogo Jota's loss; Salah has felt the impact of them all during his unusually low-key beginning to the season.

Sunday's Showpiece Occasion

Sunday's showpiece occasion could provide the spark for the origin of a impressive 16 scores in 17 games for Liverpool against Manchester United, who are making their 100th visit to the stadium and have not succeeded at their fierce rivals for almost a decade. The attacker will create Slot with a further surprise issue, though, if he continue lost in the turmoil indefinitely.

Current Display

The team's boss likely noticed the paradox of the player's opening strike against the opponent recently. Drilled directly with the outside of his left foot into the front post, his eighth strike of the national team's qualifying effort came from an very similar spot to his expensive error versus Chelsea before the break for internationals.

Had that right-foot effort been converted shortly after the resumption at Chelsea's ground we would still be eulogising Florian Wirtz's maiden superb setup in the Premier League. Discussions into Salah's decline and the team's unusual losing run might as well have been postponed. Rather, Wirtz's wait continues while the coach broods over a third loss on the road, two caused by dying-minute strikes and another the result of a controversial spot-kick. Small margins, as Slot repeated on recently, but they do not camouflage underlying concerns.

Last Season's Contribution

The forward was key in driving Liverpool towards a tying 20th league title the prior campaign while speculation over his career lingered in the backdrop. We extracted almost the best out of Mo last term,” said Slot when his leading striker signed a fresh deal in the spring. There has been a obvious drop-off on an personal and collective level from then. The team, not the details of a deal, are to blame.

Statistical Decline

His output in terms of goals and assists is down 50% on the same point the previous term, from a combined 8 in the initial seven league games of last season to four (a pair of goals and two assists) the current campaign. His number of attempts has fallen from twenty-two to twelve while accurate shots have fallen from fifteen to 5, leading to a significant decline in shooting accuracy (not counting blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6 percent, figures show.

One attribute that has remained consistent is his creativity. With 12 opportunities made, against fourteen at the same stage of last campaign, his stats stay among the finest in Europe and up in the ranks of young talents and rising stars, his younger counterparts by fifteen and thirteen years respectively.

Team Display

Indicators of collective performance will trouble the coach additionally. Salah had seventy-six contacts in the enemy penalty area in the opening seven fixtures of last season. This season's total is 39. The stats are symptomatic of the team's issues overall. Just Manchester United and the Gunners have taken a greater number of attempts on goal than Liverpool in the current term, but Liverpool's rate of shots from inside the goal area is the poorest in the division, their share from outside the area among the greatest. Liverpool's percentage of efforts on goal – 28.4 percent – is also among the lowest in the competition.

“In the first half of last season we mainly found the net from an individual brilliance from a forward and in the second half it was mostly from a dead ball,” the manager said. “Now we have not seen as many moments of genius and we have not found the net from set pieces. But we are still the team that from general play produces the most xG chances.”

New Signings

They are not hurting foes in the fashion the coach imagined when Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and the Swedish striker were acquired this summer, although the team stay the league's third-best scorers. A draw on the weekend would be enough for him to attain the 100-point mark in fewer games than any manager in the club's history (forty-six). Imagine what his forward line will do when it clicks. The side remain a team of outstanding skill, able to igniting and catching any opponent for the championship, but cohesion is missing. That cannot be attributed on the recent arrivals only.

Individual and Collective Problems

The player is not the sole senior player to experience a dip, with the midfielder regaining to form and the defender toiling. But he finds himself at the center of the turmoil that has lately engulfed Liverpool. This goes to a individual level, with his grief over the death of Jota evident on that poignant season opener against Bournemouth. The impact of Jota's loss can neither be quantified nor ignored.

Strategic Shifts

In the prior campaign, he