“The biggest difference for Salah has been in the opposition half" - Jamie Carragher explains why Liverpool star has struggled so far this season

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has shared his thoughts on Mohamed Salah’s dip in form this season. After a brilliant 2024-25 campaign that saw the Reds lift their 20th top-flight league title, Salah has struggled to find his footing this term.

So far, the Egyptian has just four goal contributions in seven Premier League appearances this season, a far cry from his total at this stage last season. Simply put, he has endured a slow start by his standards, with the Reds currently sitting second in the league standings.

In his column for The Telegraph, Carragher specifically pointed out four reasons why Salah has failed to meet expectations. These include the emotional impact of Diogo Jota’s death, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure, tactical changes within manager Arne Slot’s system, and his failure to convert chances.

“There are mitigating factors which support the idea that Salah’s early-season difficulties are temporary,” Carragher began. “First, and most tragically, it is impossible to ignore the emotional scenes at Anfield at full time of Liverpool’s opening Premier League game against Bournemouth, when Salah broke down in front of the Kop as supporters chanted Diogo Jota’s name. From a purely football perspective, it has also been a period of change. After eight years in partnership with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Salah has played in front of four right-backs already this season; Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong, Dominik Szoboszlai and, briefly, Wataru Endo. “There is an additional tactical adjustment impacting Salah,” he continued. “One of the reasons he was so effective last season is because Slot designed the team around a “risk-and-reward” strategy with his main goalscorer. He encouraged him to stay up the pitch rather than consistently track back, trusting Szoboszlai, Alexander-Arnold or Ibrahima Konaté to cover the right side of Liverpool’s defence when the team was counter-attacked. The reshaping of the midfield, in addition to the changing personnel at full-back and Konaté’s inconsistent form, has enabled opponents to target Liverpool’s right side more productively.

On the biggest reason for Salah’s struggles, Carragher concluded:

“The biggest difference for Salah has been in the opposition half, as he missed three chances against Chelsea which would have changed the result. Traditionally, Salah comes sprinting out of the blocks in August. Not so this season. The most worrying statistics demonstrate Salah’s difficulties go back to last March. In his last 21 Liverpool appearances, he has only five goals (two of which were penalties). He had struck 32 in his previous 42 games for his club. In this year’s Premier League, his strike against Bournemouth is his only non-penalty goal so far. That has to change to end the latest chatter about whether his best is behind him.”

Jamie Carrgher urges Liverpool to get used to life without Mohamed Salah

Writing further, Carragher reminded his former side that age is catching up with Salah and may no longer continue to operate as he once did. He also pointed out the fact that they will be without their talisman mid-season when he departs for AFCON to represent Egypt and urged them to start preparing for a future without him.

Carragher added:

“Like the legends before him, even a footballer with Salah’s pace cannot outrun father time. It is a question of when, not if, the greatest realise they have been caught. Slot and the rest of Liverpool’s football department know that, which is why their summer business carried all the hallmarks of succession planning, despite Salah’s new deal. Slot left Salah out of the first tricky Champions League away game in Galatasaray. “With Salah unavailable when he joins Egypt in mid-season, Liverpool must get used to being without him. Sooner or later Liverpool must move beyond Salah and enter the era of Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. Just do not bet against Salah making that later rather than sooner.”

To date, Salah has scored 248 goals and provided 116 assists for Liverpool in 411 appearances across competitions.

Edited by Ezekiel Olamide