Mohamed Salah has struggled so far this season at Liverpool with this new-look team.
The Egyptian has found himself in an unusual position for Arne Slot’s side this season, with his numbers not as strong as they were previously.
Salah has not been able to influence games or have that moment where he flips it on its head in favour of Liverpool, but it is not entirely his fault.
The 33-year-old’s issues with getting used to this team are not solely a problem he has, but it is one that has affected the whole team, including other players who have been on Merseyside for a similar amount of time.
One of the reasons he gets so much criticism from pundits for his poor form is due to the high standards he has set, including in last year’s Premier League-winning season, where his numbers were the highest individually.
Danny Murphy believes he is missing Trent Alexander-Arnold and the midfield is imbalanced
This dry spell from Salah and the team as a whole will end soon, with this three-game losing streak more of a blip than it is a sign of things to come.
Those problems with balance have really affected how he has played, and the lack of service he is getting from the right-hand side, as he was used to from Trent Alexander-Arnold, is an issue.
Danny Murphy has pointed to these issues as the reason for the star struggling more than usual this season, especially with the changes in midfield playing a big factor.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Red highlighted the changes in Dominik Szoboszlai’s and Ryan Gravenberch’s roles as something that the Egyptian international still has to adapt to.
Murphy explained: “(Does Salah miss Trent?) I think it deprives him sometimes of wonderful passes. I think so. I think the other thing that’s affected Salah is the imbalance of the midfield behind him because the dynamic of the midfield’s changed a little bit.
“Not so much the tactical. It’s Szoboszlai who played where Wirtz is. It’s not like he’s changed the formation. It’s just different types. So Szoboszlai and Gravenberch who’ve both got great legs and athleticism, covered Salah a lot. Wirtz ain’t really going out there to cover say he’s not supposed to. By the way.”
Danny Murphy explains why Liverpool have lost their composure
These are clearly some of the reasons for his lack of form, but as previously mentioned, these poor displays are indicative of the squad at this moment in time.
The defence is one of the areas that has lost that composure, as the goals conceded are becoming an increasing problem.
These defensive issues were broken down by Murphy who says the reason for their calmness last season was the back four of Trent, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
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He explained: “The control and composure I talked about Liverpool having last season, people say they’ve lost it, but don’t really talk about why. Why have they lost that control and composure?
“Well, the back four generally last year was Trent, Robbo, Konate, and Virgil. Didn’t have many injuries. Now, you’ve lost the best footballing right back in Europe arguably.
“Konate had the season of his life, the best season of his career. Became more confident in his distribution. Virgil was his normal self. Robbo just kept doing what he does.
“Robbo’s only issues last season were occasionally defensively, but with the ball, he’s great. So, all of a sudden, Konate’s lost some confidence. He’s a bit tentative. His passing’s off. He’s making mistakes. His confidence has dropped.
“They’ve had three different right backs, none of them Trent, and none of them are playing with an abundance of confidence like Trent. They’re never going to be fair. But even Szoboszlai when he’s there, he’s done okay. But he’s not Trent from that position.”
This is what needs to be addressed first by the manager over any other issue in the team, or it will be costly in the long run and cause more problems than needed.
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