Mark Lawrenson now feels Mohamed Salah is in an ‘unusual’ situation and it is making the Liverpool star unhappy. But the forward’s form is only an indicator of Jurgen Klopp’s issue.
Liverpool are on a dire run of form in the Premier League having now fallen to ninth in the table. The Reds have lost two of their past three matches and have only won eight times in 19 games. They have further only scored 34 goals having netted 50 by this stage last term.
Seven of Liverpool’s goals have come from Salah with the 30-year-old and Roberto Firmino their joint-top scorers. The Egyptian has also laid on four assists after 19 games as the only outfield player Klopp has started in each of the Merseyside outfit’s top-flight games so far.
Salah had scored 15 of Liverpool’s 50 goals through their opening 19 games of the 2021/22 Premier League season. He had also laid on 10 assists en route to offering 14 and 23 goals in 35 matches. Klopp started the £350k-a-week star 30 times and as a substitute five times.
But the attacker has struggled to deliver a consistent output this term whilst Klopp’s squad fails to deliver regular results. Salah is now four games without scoring a single goal or any assists. He also only scored once through eight games between August 27 and October 22.
Lawrenson feels Salah is not happy in an ‘unusual’ situation at Liverpool
Lawrenson feels Salah’s lack of form in the Premier League is down to the forward being in an ‘unusual’ situation. While the 83-cap winger is a constant in Klopp’s squad, the German has had to rotate those around him as the Merseyside outfit cope with an array of injuries.
“It’s unusual for him,” Lawrenson told talkSPORT. “I think one of the problems is that he’s playing with different strikers every week and in different formations. The thing with him is that he needs to be happy to play and you can see it on his face.
“He’s a bit like: ‘What’s happening here?’ Consequently, with them not playing particularly well, he’s not had too much of service. You don’t suddenly become a bad player.
“People think it’s because he’s signed a new contract and that sort of thing. It’s nothing to do with that. It’s just that he’s not been playing well and, consequently, he hasn’t had too many opportunities.”
Klopp has had to use Darwin Nunez, Firmino, Salah and Cody Gakpo as strikers for Premier League games this term. The German has had to deal with losing Luis Diaz to a knee injury, Diogo Jota with a calf issue and Firmino with a calf injury after he suffered a setback so far.
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