'Suffered because of that': Troy Deeney shares theory for why Salah has been 'a little bit off' this season
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Mohamed Salah has faced some scrutiny for his performances for Liverpool this season.
The 33-year-old has had an impact this season with five contributions in his first five games of the season, with one of those an important penalty conversion to beat Burnley last weekend.
While he may be facing criticism for his lower output and muted performances for the Reds, it has not been a typical start for Liverpool since they returned from their Premier League-winning season.
This season, they have won five consecutive games in all competitions with late winners, which is not indicative of the usual composed and dominant performances we have known from their team.
It is clearly not an individual issue so far; it is more of a team issue, with the squad at times not being able to click as much as you would hope for a title-winning side.
Despite this, the side have maintained a 100% record and they will look to extend this against Everton in the Merseyside Derby.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
This has not prevented pundits from analysing where they believe the team have been falling short of their usual high standard and why the ‘Egyptian King’ is not able to have his usual impact.
Troy Deeney has been one of those who has been focused on why the forward has found himself slightly off form.
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Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Watford striker has theorised that his new contract and the new summer signings have played a subconscious factor in his game this season.
He said: “I think it’s fair to say he hasn’t been great, Salah, because you can talk about missing Trent, but his touch has been a little bit off.
“If you look at the totality of his game, it wasn’t a great game, but as forward players, all we need to do is score or assist, and everyone forgets it.
Against Bournemouth, he was poor, but he scores; everyone says it’s great.
I just think he is at a position now where he’s got his new contract, you can relax a little bit subconsciously maybe five percent, but also he’s probably looking around now saying ‘Right Isak’s here’.
“So those boys are playing he’s probably looking going right I am the man but I need to deliver a little bit more now because people are going to start suggesting I could come off and change my position so I think it was Liverpool’s abnormal pre-season of trying to get everybody in… I just think it’s been a stop-start one and he suffered because of that.”
It may be unfair to attribute the drop in form to the contract, but it would make sense for the impact of signings to play the biggest factor.
While the majority of the business this season was completed early on, there has not been enough time to embed players such as Alexander Isak or even their full-backs into the squad as seamlessly.
But it all takes time, and it seems like Liverpool and Salah himself are finding their groove again.
It is always difficult, though, to expand upon that form in the derby, where every manager will say that how well teams have previously performed does not matter.
While that is true, in recent derby games, there has been one constant, and that is Salah, who is the fifth-highest goalscorer in the fixture’s history, closing in on the one and only Steven Gerrard.
There will definitely be an opportunity for him to continue his record and close in on another piece of history for the club.
A late winner should be expected given recent form and history in this fixture, but a win is the main hope, no matter how it happens.