Liverpool fell to a damaging 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday, and their star players are taking significant criticism in the wake of their third straight loss in the top flight.
Carragher calls for Salah to be dropped
The Reds have now lost four matches in a row in all competitions, with Sunday’s loss at home to United the nadir in an increasingly concerning season for the champions.
It was another off day for Mohamed Salah, who missed a huge chance after the break and generally struggled to have any kind of positive impact on proceedings, with Jamie Carragher calling for him to be dropped on Sky Sports after the game, having also questioned his form before proceedings began.
“I don’t think Salah should be like a Virgil van Dijk where it’s like ‘first name on the teamsheet’. Liverpool have got two away games – in the Champions League at Frankfurt and then they go to Brentford. I don’t think Salah should start both of those games.
“He should always start at Anfield because Liverpool will be on top, around the edge of the box and more often than not he scores in those situations today. But I do think in the away games and helping your full-back, I don’t think Salah should be starting every game right now, certainly away from home, with the form he’s in.”
Arne Slot finds himself under genuine pressure as Liverpool’s head coach, but he isn’t being helped out by star players, from Salah to recent signings.
Harry Maguire outscoring Liverpool strikers
Incredibly, Harry Maguire’s winner for United means that he now has scored the same number of goals at Anfield in the league this season as Salah (1), Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak combined, leading to plenty of fans panicking on social media after BBC journalist Statman Dave shed light on Isak in particular.
The latter pair are still waiting to strike for the Reds in the top flight home or away, having arrived as the two most expensive signings in Reds history earlier this year, and the Swede has racked up 1.4 expected goals even in his limited playing time, so really should have found the net by now.
To say that this statistic is damning would be an understatement, with almost nobody expecting Liverpool to make such an unconvincing start to their title defence.
Salah’s form is concerning, with signs that the 33-year-old may have peaked as a footballer, while Wirtz and Isak are taking longer to adjust to life at Anfield that a lot would have hoped.
There are mitigating factors surrounding their struggles, though, with fellow new signings Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez flattering to deceive, and the likes of Ibrahima Konate and Alexis Mac Allister in poor form in too many games.
Wirtz and Isak will likely come good, and Salah is too special a footballer not to overcome this enormous slump, but if things don’t improve fast, Liverpool will be out of the Premier League title race by Christmas.
