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da marjack bet： Liverpool have fallen into a remarkably bad habit of relying too heavily on Mohamed Salah.
This is perhaps understandable. Salah has grown into a world-class player on Merseyside and his performances last season alone attest to his genuinely superb ability. In 2017-18, the Egypt international scored 44 goals in 52 games in all competitions. Thirty-two of those goals came in 36 Premier League appearances.
That is an almost unattainable level of success and it is nigh-on impossible to replicate, particularly in England. This season, he has scored 20 goals in 38 games, 17 of which came in 29 Premier League appearances.
This drop-off was inevitable and it is not evidence that he is a one-season wonder. However, there has been a noticeable dip in his form in recent weeks, particularly in big games. This, too, is not evidence that he is anything resembling a ‘bottler’, but his performance against Everton was such that he actively hindered his team.
Salah has failed to score in five of his last six games. He did not score against Manchester United or against the Toffees and he also drew a blank when Liverpool lost to title rivals Manchester City. Indeed, the only top-six side he has scored against this season is Arsenal.
That Jurgen Klopp continues to expect moments of magic from him, then, is naive at best.
Against Everton, Liverpool headed into the game knowing that only a win would see them top of the league at the end of the weekend. Their 0-0 draw has them a point behind City with nine games of the season remaining.
Klopp chose a front three of Divock Origi, Salah and Sadio Mane. Mane played through the middle.
But with a midfield of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum, there was no thrust from the centre of the pitch, no tempo-setting player who could push Liverpool forward. It fell to Salah, yet again, and he did not deliver.
He had two shots on goal, one of which was one-on-one with Jordan Pickford. Given time to pick his spot, having wriggled clear of his marker, Salah sent a side-footed effort into the England goalkeeper’s midriff. He appeared so terrified of missing the target that he forgot to put any real power into his effort.
The former Chelsea winger was also dispossessed three times throughout the game, per WhoScored, while his pass success rate of 70% ensured that Everton were routinely able to mop up possession in defence. In fact, Origi’s rate was 63% and Mane’s was 65%. For top-level Premier League footballers, that is, quite simply, appalling.
Everton then, faced very little of the ‘heavy metal’ football that Klopp so regularly demands of his players.
With Salah seemingly burnt out – he has played 90 games for the club since joining in 2017 and also featured for Egypt, despite injury concerns, at the 2018 World Cup in Russia in the summer – and Roberto Firmino injured, the German must find a way to bring the best out of the 26-year-old once again.
Packing the midfield with water-carriers will not do it, however; there needs to be dynamism in Liverpool’s attacking play.
As it is, they are simply sitting back and hoping Salah pulls something out of his bag of tricks.
It worked last season, but this season it appears that he is simply too tired to conjure the wonders the Reds desire. This is a glaring problem which is threatening to define the club’s season.
Will burnout ensure a continuation of Salah’s lacklustre form or will growing pressure to respond to shifting title-race dynamics galvanise him into a timely and scintillating goal scoring run?