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It has been a while, but the Egyptian star returned assuming the main part last week with a brace in Morocco that confirmed the Egyptian team's place at the 2026 World Cup. The main man taking the spotlight once more. The Reds need him to keep that position.

Reasons for Inconsistent Performances

We see numerous reasons why inconsistent, unconvincing showings have been the common thread characterizing the team's start to their championship defense, if they recorded seven straight victories or, before the Red Devils' trip to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, three consecutive defeats. The upheaval from so many new signings, the coach's quest for his ideal lineup, Diogo Jota's passing; Salah has experienced the impact of them all during his atypically subdued start to the season.

Sunday's Key Fixture

Sunday's key fixture could offer the catalyst for the origin of a record 16 scores in 17 outings for the club against United, who are making their 100th appearance to the stadium and have not triumphed at their archrivals for more than nine years. The attacker will pose Slot with a further unexpected problem, yet, should he continue caught in the disruption for an extended period.

Latest Form

Liverpool's head coach must have recognized the paradox of the player's first goal against Djibouti recently. Drilled directly with the outside of his stronger foot inside the close post, Salah's eighth score of the national team's qualifying effort originated from an almost identical position to his costly miss against Chelsea before the international break.

If that right-foot effort been converted moments after the restart at Chelsea's ground we would still be celebrating the new signing's first sublime pass in the Premier League. Analyses into Salah's dip and the team's unusual losing streak might also have been delayed. Rather, the midfielder's wait persists while the coach fumes over a third defeat away, two caused by last-minute winners and one the result of a disputed penalty. Narrow differences, as he emphasized on recently, but they cannot hide underlying concerns.

Last Season's Impact

Salah was key in driving the side towards a tying 20th championship the previous term while doubt over his career persisted in the background. “We brought almost the best out of Mo this season,” said the manager when his main attacker signed a new two‑year contract in April. There has been a clear decrease on an individual and collective level since. The squad, not the terms of a deal, are responsible.

Performance Drop

The 33-year-old's production in terms of scores and assists is down 50% on the corresponding stage last season, from a combined eight in the first seven fixtures of last season to 4 (two goals and two assists) this season. The count of shots has decreased from 22 to twelve while shots on target have fallen from 15 to five, causing a significant decline in shot accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6 percent, figures show.

One attribute that has held more steady is Salah's creativity. With twelve chances created, compared with fourteen at the same stage of the previous season, his numbers stay among the finest in the continent and up in the ranks of Lamine Yamal and rising stars, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years respectively.

Team Output

Indicators of team display will trouble Slot further. Salah had seventy-six contacts in the opposition penalty area in the opening seven fixtures of the previous term. This term's total is thirty-nine. These figures are reflective of the team's issues overall. Only United and the Gunners have taken a greater number of attempts on goal than them now, but Liverpool's percentage of shots from within the six-yard box is the poorest in the top flight, their share from outside the area among the highest. Liverpool's percentage of shots on target – 28.4 percent – is as well among the weakest in the competition.

“In the first half of the previous campaign we primarily found the net from a special moment from an attacker and in the later stage it was more from a dead ball,” Slot said. “Now we have not seen as numerous sparks of quality and we have not found the net from set pieces. But we are nonetheless the side that from live action produces the highest xG chances.”

Recent Additions

They aren't punishing foes in the way Slot imagined when Florian Wirtz, the French forward and Alexander Isak were acquired this summer, though Liverpool stay the league's third-best goalscorers. A tie on the weekend would be sufficient for him to attain the century of points in less games than any coach in the club's past (forty-six). Consider what his forward line will do when it does settle. Liverpool are still a squad of supreme individual quality, able to sparking and catching any opponent for the title, but synergy is missing. That cannot be pinned on the new signings only.

Personal and Collective Problems

The player is not the only senior player to experience a drop-off, with Alexis Mac Allister working his way back to form and Ibrahima Konaté toiling. But he is at the center of the upheaval that has recently affected Liverpool. That goes to a personal level, with his sadness over the death of Diogo Jota obvious on that poignant season opener against Bournemouth. The influence of Jota's loss can neither be measured nor overlooked.

Tactical Shifts

In the prior campaign, he