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It has been a while, but the Egyptian star was back playing the lead part last week with two goals in Casablanca that sealed Egypt's position at the global tournament. The key player stepping on the spotlight once more. Liverpool need him to keep that position.

Causes for Variable Showings

We see numerous reasons why variable, lackluster performances have been the recurring theme defining the team's opening to their title defence, whether they achieved seven wins in a row or, before the Red Devils' arrival to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, three losses in a row. The disruption from numerous summer changes, Arne Slot's hunt for his best XI, the late forward's tragic death; Salah has experienced the effect of them all during his unusually subdued opening to the campaign.

The Weekend's Showpiece Occasion

Sunday's big match could offer the impetus for the cause of a impressive 16 scores in 17 games for Liverpool against United, who are paying their centenary trip to the stadium and have not won at their fierce rivals for more than nine years. The attacker will create the manager with an additional surprise issue, though, should he stay lost in the disruption for an extended period.

Current Form

Liverpool's boss likely noticed the paradox of the player's initial score against Djibouti last Wednesday. Swept immediately with the exterior of his left foot inside the near post, his eighth strike of Egypt's qualifying effort originated from an nearly the same position to his expensive error against Chelsea prior to the national team pause.

If that right-foot effort been finished shortly after the restart at Chelsea's ground we would even now be praising the new signing's first excellent pass in the Premier League. Discussions into Salah's drop and the team's infrequent losing run might also have been postponed. Instead, the midfielder's search persists while the coach stews over a third consecutive loss on the road, a couple caused by dying-minute strikes and another the outcome of a debatable penalty. Small margins, as Slot emphasized on recently, but they do not mask bigger issues.

Previous Campaign's Contribution

Salah was key in driving Liverpool towards a record-equalling 20th league title the previous term while doubt over his career rumbled in the backdrop. We extracted almost the utmost out of Salah last term,” said Slot when his leading striker signed a new two‑year contract in the spring. There has been a obvious decrease on an individual and team level since. The lineup, not the details of a deal, are accountable.

Performance Drop

The 33-year-old's output in terms of scores and setups is down 50% on the corresponding stage last season, from a combined 8 in the opening seven league games of 2024-25 to four (a pair of goals and a couple of assists) this term. His tally of shots has dropped from twenty-two to 12 while shots on target have fallen from 15 to five, leading to a sharp decline in shot accuracy (excluding blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6%, data show.

A particular skill that has stayed stable is Salah's playmaking. With twelve key passes, compared with fourteen at the comparable period of last term, his figures are among the finest in the continent and comparable in the ranks of Lamine Yamal and rising stars, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years each.

Collective Display

Measures of collective display will concern Slot further. He had seventy-six touches in the enemy penalty area in the opening seven matches of the prior campaign. This season's count is 39. The numbers are reflective of the squad's difficulties in general. Only United and Arsenal have taken more shots on goal than them in the current term, but Liverpool's proportion of shots from inside the six-yard box is the smallest in the top flight, their share from distance among the highest. The club's proportion of accurate shots – 28.4% – is as well among the lowest in the competition.

During the initial phase of last season we primarily scored from a moment of magic from an attacker and in the later stage it was more from a free-kick or corner,” the manager said. “This season we have not seen 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 creates the most expected goals opportunities.”

Summer Arrivals

They are not hurting foes in the way Slot envisaged when Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak were signed this summer, although Liverpool are the league's joint third-highest scorers. A draw on Sunday would be enough for him to achieve the 100-point mark in fewer games than any boss in the club's history (forty-six). Consider what his attack will do when it clicks. The side remain a team of supreme talent, able to igniting and catching any foe for the title, but synergy is missing. That can not be attributed on the recent arrivals alone.

Individual and Collective Challenges

Salah is not the only key member to experience a decline, with the midfielder regaining to match sharpness and Ibrahima Konaté laboring. But he finds himself at the core of the disruption that has of late engulfed the club. This extends to a individual level, with his sorrow over the loss of Diogo Jota evident on that emotional first game against the Cherries. The effect of Jota's tragedy can not be quantified nor dismissed.

Tactical Adjustments

Previously, he