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It has been some time, but Mohamed Salah was back playing the starring role in recent days with a brace in Morocco that confirmed the Egyptian team's place at the global tournament. The main man taking the spotlight yet again. The Merseyside club require him to keep that position.

Causes for Variable Performances

There are several factors why unsteady, unconvincing displays have been the common thread characterizing the team's start to their league defense, if they recorded a winning streak or, before the Red Devils' arrival to Anfield on the weekend, three losses in a row. The disruption from numerous new signings, the coach's hunt for his top team, the late forward's passing; Salah has endured the impact of them all during his atypically low-key beginning to the term.

Sunday's Big Match

The weekend's key fixture could provide the spark for the origin of a impressive 16 scores in 17 games for the club against Manchester United, who are making their 100th visit to the stadium and have not succeeded at their biggest foes for over nine years. The attacker will pose Slot with another surprise issue, though, should he remain caught in the upheaval indefinitely.

Latest Form

The team's manager must have noticed the irony of the player's first goal against Djibouti last Wednesday. Drilled directly with the outside of his left foot inside the close post, his eighth score of Egypt's World Cup qualifying campaign was from an very similar spot to his costly miss versus Chelsea prior to the national team pause.

Had that shot with his right been converted moments after the resumption at Chelsea's ground we would even now be celebrating the new signing's first superb assist in the Premier League. Discussions into his drop and Liverpool's infrequent losing run might also have been avoided. Rather, Wirtz's search goes on while the coach broods over a third consecutive loss on the road, two caused by last-minute winners and one the outcome of a controversial spot-kick. Narrow differences, as he reiterated on Friday, but they do not camouflage larger problems.

Previous Campaign's Influence

Salah was crucial in pushing Liverpool towards a record-equalling 20th championship the prior campaign while speculation over his future persisted in the backdrop. We extracted almost the best out of Salah this season,” said the manager when his main attacker signed a fresh deal in the spring. There has been a noticeable decrease on an individual and collective level since. The team, not the details of a contract, are to blame.

Performance Decrease

The 33-year-old's contribution in terms of goals and assists is reduced half on the corresponding stage the previous term, from a combined eight in the first seven matches of last season to 4 (a pair of goals and a couple of assists) the current campaign. The count of attempts has dropped from 22 to twelve while efforts on goal have fallen from 15 to five, contributing to a significant decline in shot accuracy (not counting blocks) from 78.9% to 55.6 percent, data show.

One attribute that has stayed stable is his chance creation. With 12 chances created, compared with fourteen at the equivalent point of the previous season, his stats remain among the top in the continent and up in the company of Lamine Yamal and Arda Güler, his juniors by fifteen and thirteen years each.

Collective Display

Indicators of collective performance will trouble Slot additionally. He had seventy-six touches in the opposition box in the initial seven league games of last season. This season's total is 39. The stats are reflective of the squad's difficulties as a whole. Only United and the Gunners have attempted a greater number of shots on goal than Liverpool in the current term, but the team's proportion of attempts from within the six-yard area is the lowest in the Premier League, their share from distance among the highest. Liverpool's proportion of shots on target – 28.4 percent – is also among the lowest in the league.

During the initial phase of the previous campaign we mostly scored from a special moment from one of our front three and in the later stage it was mostly from a free-kick or corner,” Slot said. “Currently we haven’t had as many 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.”

Summer Arrivals

They are not hurting rivals in the way the coach envisaged when Wirtz, the French forward and Alexander Isak were acquired in the offseason, though Liverpool stay the league's third-best goalscorers. A tie on the weekend would be enough for Slot to attain the century of points in less games than any coach in the club's history (46). Think what his attack will do when it finally gels. The side remain a team of supreme individual quality, equipped to starting and chasing any foe for the championship, but synergy is absent. That cannot be attributed on the recent arrivals alone.

Personal and Collective Problems

Salah is not the only senior member to experience a dip, with the midfielder regaining to form and the defender toiling. But he is at the center of the disruption that has lately affected Liverpool. This goes to a personal level, with Salah's sadness over the passing of Jota evident on that heartfelt season opener against the Cherries. The impact of his death can neither be measured nor overlooked.

Strategic Adjustments

In the prior campaign, he