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It has been some time, but Mohamed Salah returned taking on the starring role in recent days with two goals in Morocco that secured the Egyptian team's position at the 2026 World Cup. The key player taking the limelight another time. The Merseyside club must have him to stay there.

Factors for Variable Showings

We see several reasons why inconsistent, unimpressive showings have been the recurring theme defining Liverpool's start to their title defence, if they achieved a winning streak or, prior to the Red Devils' arrival to Anfield on Sunday, a losing run. The upheaval from multiple summer changes, Arne Slot's search for his top team, Diogo Jota's loss; the winger has experienced the consequences of them all during his atypically subdued beginning to the season.

Sunday's Showpiece Occasion

The weekend's key fixture could offer the catalyst for the origin of a impressive 16 scores in 17 games for Liverpool against United, who are paying their 100th visit to the stadium and have not won at their biggest foes for almost a decade. Salah will pose Slot with another surprise issue, though, should he remain caught in the turmoil indefinitely.

Latest Display

Liverpool's boss must have seen the contrast of Salah's initial score against Djibouti recently. Struck first time with the exterior of his left foot into the close post, his eighth goal of the national team's World Cup qualifying campaign was from an very similar location to his expensive error in the Chelsea match prior to the break for internationals.

If that right-foot effort been scored shortly after the restart at Chelsea's ground we would still be eulogising the new signing's maiden superb setup in the English top flight. Discussions into Salah's drop and the team's infrequent defeat streak might as well have been postponed. Instead, Wirtz's wait continues while Slot broods over a third consecutive away defeat, a couple caused by dying-minute strikes and one the outcome of a disputed penalty. Small margins, as he repeated on Friday, but they cannot hide underlying concerns.

Last Season's Impact

The forward was key in pushing the side towards a tying 20th championship the previous term while speculation over his long-term plans lingered in the backdrop. We achieved almost the utmost out of Salah that campaign,” said Slot when his main attacker signed a fresh deal in April. There has been a clear decrease on an personal and team level from then. The squad, not the terms of a contract, are to blame.

Statistical Decrease

His production in terms of scores and assists is down 50% on the corresponding stage last season, from a combined eight in the opening seven fixtures of 2024-25 to four (a pair of goals and a couple of assists) this term. His tally of shots has decreased from 22 to 12 while shots on target have fallen from 15 to five, leading to a sharp drop in shot accuracy (not counting blocks) from 78.9 percent to 55.6%, figures show.

One attribute that has stayed stable is Salah's creativity. With twelve opportunities made, against fourteen at the equivalent point of last term, his numbers remain among the top in Europe and comparable in the group of young talents and rising stars, his younger counterparts by fifteen and 13 years respectively.

Team Performance

Indicators of team display will worry the coach more. Salah had seventy-six contacts in the opposition penalty area in the initial seven league games of the previous term. This term's tally is 39. The stats are indicative of the team's problems in general. Only United and Arsenal have tried more shots on goal than them now, but the team's proportion of shots from inside the six-yard area is the smallest in the division, their share from long range among the greatest. Liverpool's proportion of accurate shots – 28.4 percent – is also among the poorest in the league.

During the initial phase of last season we mostly found the net from an individual brilliance from an attacker and in the second half it was more from a dead ball,” the manager said. “Currently we haven’t had as many sparks of quality and we haven’t scored from set pieces. But we are nonetheless the side that from open play produces the most quality opportunities.”

New Signings

They are not beating rivals in the way Slot planned when Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak were signed recently, though the team are the league's third-best goalscorers. A tie on Sunday would be enough for Slot to achieve the 100-point mark in fewer games than any boss in Liverpool's past (46). Imagine what his offense will do when it does settle. The side remain a squad of exceptional individual quality, capable of igniting and chasing any rival for the title, but synergy is missing. That can not be pinned on the summer recruits by themselves.

Individual and Team Problems

The player is not the sole key player to experience a drop-off, with the midfielder working his way back to form and Ibrahima Konaté laboring. But he ends up at the center of the upheaval that has lately affected the club. That goes to a personal level, with his grief over the passing of Diogo Jota obvious on that heartfelt first game against the Cherries. The impact of his loss can neither be assessed nor overlooked.

Tactical Shifts

Last season, he