Mohamed Salah has been off the pace this season and Jamie Carragher has told Arne Slot exactly what he needs to do with the winger.
Liverpool were defeated by Manchester United last weekend, but the hosts had more than enough chances to win the game.
Mohamed Salah missed two of these chances and has once again made himself open to criticism due to another poor performance.
Some might say the Egypt international is in the worst form of his Liverpool career and his goal record would certainly suggest this. Salah has gone seven Premier League matches without a non-penalty goal, his longest run since he made the move to Anfield.
Liverpool are back in action against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, before facing Brentford just three days later. According to Carragher, Salah should not be starting both matches.
He told Sky Sports: “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.”
Salah enjoyed the international break, scoring twice during Egypt’s 3-0 victory against Djibouti. However, his club performances have not been up to scratch and Liverpool have suffered as a result.
Interestingly, Salah has a goal contribution in every match Liverpool have won this season when he has been on the pitch, except for the 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
On the other five occasions where Salah has not registered a goal contribution, including Liverpool’s past four matches, the Reds have been defeated every time.
This shows how important Salah is to Liverpool when he is firing, but at the moment he is not doing enough for his team. Jamie Carragher is not the first person to believe this. In fact, UFC martial artist Paddy Pimblett already called for Salah to be dropped after Liverpool’s defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
He told talkSPORT: “I love Salah, I think he’s one of the best players we’ve ever had in our club, but when’s the point where he’s playing that bad where he gets dropped or he gets subbed off?
“He never seems to get taken off.”
It may come as a surprise to Pimblett and Carragher that Salah has actually created more big chances than any other player in the Premier League. However, he is joint fourth for most big chances missed, holding a worrying shot conversion rate of 13.3 per cent.
If Salah does manage to keep his spot in Slot’s starting line-up against Frankfurt, he must do more for Liverpool. Otherwise, Slot may have little choice but to give in to the demands of the club’s supporters and former players.
