Theo Walcott says he's figured out Mo Salah's 'biggest weakness' after slow start to this season
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Mohamed Salah has only scored twice so far this season after four matches.
The Reds may be sitting at the top of the table on a maximum of 12 points, the only team to have won all their games so far, but performances have not exactly justified their tally.
They have needed four last-gasp winners to get them out of jail, with the latest being a 95th minute penalty from the inevitable Salah.
However, even the Egyptian has struggled at the beginning of the new campaign, with the biggest worry for Reds fans being how quiet he has been in games.
He, of course, manages to pop up with the big moments when needed, but something just does not seem quite right for Liverpool’s star man so far.
And, Theo Walcott reckons he’s figured out why he is having a slow start to the season, and if correct, it is something that he has never had a problem with before.
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images
So far this season, Salah has two goals and one assist, a return that does not seem bad at all considering he has only played four matches.
However, by his standards, this is very low, especially when taking into account players like Erling Haaland, who Salah is often compared to, already has five goals to his name.
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The Egyptian has lacked that cutting edge in the final third so far and his name is barely mentioned in matches compared to how often it would be heard previously, something that would be a concern for Reds fans.
“There has been a lot of talk on Salah and his influences in games, but for me I look at his output and habits as a winger and the decisions he is making,” Walcott said on Match of the Day.
“We like to see Salah getting the ball on the wing and showing his speed and physical output.
It’s a bit out of character and it’s his decision making that is his biggest weakness at the moment.
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“But even when he’s not playing to his ability, he’s not shying away from the ball at all.
I wouldn’t be worried at all if I was a Liverpool fan because he still has that pace and power.”
Salah has been through slight dips of form in the past, but he has always recovered well and proven the doubters wrong, something that would be no surprise to see him do again.
Towards the end of the Burnley game, Liverpool needed to make some changes and it was clear that Arne Slot was prepared to throw the kitchen sink at them to try and get the win.
He made a raft of attacking substitutions, and based on how everyone else was playing, many would have thought that it would have been Salah who came off due to how quiet he was.
Slot is ruthless with his changes, as shown earlier in the game when taking off Milos Kerkez before half-time, but the Dutchman clearly thought that Salah was capable of producing another big moment in a time of need.
The Egyptian did just that, and although it was only a penalty, the pressure on him meant that this goal was a lot harder to score than most realise.