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It has been a period, but Mohamed Salah returned playing the starring role in recent days with a double in Morocco that secured Egypt's place at the global tournament. The key player stepping on the limelight yet again. The Merseyside club need him to keep that position.

Causes for Unsteady Displays

There are many reasons why inconsistent, unimpressive showings have been the recurring theme running through Liverpool's start to their championship defense, whether they recorded seven straight victories or, before the Red Devils' arrival to Liverpool's home ground on Sunday, three consecutive defeats. The upheaval from so many summer changes, Arne Slot's search for his top team, Diogo Jota's tragic death; the winger has endured the consequences of them all during his atypically quiet start to the campaign.

Sunday's Showpiece Occasion

Sunday's showpiece occasion could provide the spark for the cause of a impressive 16 scores in 17 appearances for Liverpool against United, who are paying their centenary trip to Anfield and have not succeeded at their biggest foes for almost a decade. Salah will pose Slot with a further unexpected problem, yet, should he continue caught in the upheaval much longer.

Current Performance

The team's manager must have noticed the irony of Salah's first goal against Djibouti in midweek. Struck first time with the outside of his left foot inside the close post, his eighth strike of Egypt's World Cup qualifying campaign was from an nearly the same location to his costly miss against Chelsea prior to the national team pause.

Had that attempt been converted shortly after the resumption at Chelsea's ground we would still be celebrating Florian Wirtz's maiden sublime pass in the Premier League. Inquests into his decline and the team's rare losing run might also have been delayed. Instead, Wirtz's wait goes on while Slot stews over a third away defeat, a couple caused by last-minute winners and one the result of a debatable penalty. Fine lines, as Slot reiterated on Friday, but they do not camouflage underlying concerns.

Last Season's Influence

Salah was instrumental in propelling Liverpool towards a tying 20th crown the prior campaign while speculation over his long-term plans rumbled in the background. “We brought almost the maximum out of Salah last term,” said the manager when his leading striker signed a fresh deal in April. There has been a obvious decrease on an individual and team level from then. The squad, not the terms of a deal, are accountable.

Statistical Decrease

His production in terms of scores and setups is reduced half on the same stage last season, from a total eight in the opening seven matches of 2024-25 to four (a pair of goals and a couple of assists) this term. His tally of shots has fallen from twenty-two to 12 while shots on target have declined from fifteen to 5, leading to a sharp drop in conversion rate (excluding blocks) from 78.9 percent to 55.6 percent, statistics show.

A particular skill that has stayed stable is Salah's playmaking. With twelve opportunities made, against fourteen at the comparable period of last term, his figures remain among the finest in Europe and comparable in the ranks of young talents and Arda Güler, his younger counterparts by fifteen and 13 years respectively.

Team Display

Measures of collective display will concern Slot further. He had seventy-six touches in the enemy box in the first seven matches of last season. The current campaign's count is thirty-nine. These figures are symptomatic of the squad's problems overall. Just Manchester United and Arsenal have taken more attempts on goal than them now, but the team's proportion of attempts from within the goal area is the poorest in the Premier League, their share from outside the area among the greatest. The club's proportion of shots on target – 28.4 percent – is also among the weakest in the competition.

During the initial phase of the previous campaign we mostly scored from an individual brilliance from a forward and in the second half it was mostly from a free-kick or corner,” the manager said. “This season 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 live action produces the highest quality opportunities.”

Recent Additions

They are not beating opponents in the fashion the coach imagined when Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké and the Swedish striker were signed this summer, though Liverpool remain the division's joint third-highest goalscorers. A tie on Sunday would be sufficient for Slot to attain the 100-point total in fewer games than any boss in Liverpool's past (forty-six). Consider what his attack will do when it finally gels. The side remain a team of outstanding individual quality, equipped to starting and catching any foe for the title, but cohesion is absent. That cannot be attributed on the recent arrivals by themselves.

Individual and Team Problems

The player is not the sole senior member to suffer a decline, with Alexis Mac Allister working his way back to match sharpness and Ibrahima Konaté toiling. But he finds himself at the heart of the upheaval that has of late engulfed the club. That goes to a individual level, with Salah's grief over the loss of Diogo Jota evident on that heartfelt season opener against Bournemouth. The impact of Jota's tragedy can not be assessed nor overlooked.

Strategic Adjustments

In the prior campaign, he