Mohamed Salah struggles explained as two Liverpool stars called out by Michael Owen | Football | Sport

“Salah has been scoring goals for years and years,” Owen told Sky Bet. “Nobody would be surprised if he scored in his next game and went on a run.

“If there’s anyone in the Premier League you shouldn’t doubt, it’s him. That said, if there’s something more going on, then age could be a factor.

“He’s 33 now. I retired at that age myself, so you can’t go on forever. That’s one possible reason.

“Another is that there’s no Trent Alexander-Arnold feeding him those balls anymore, the dynamic has changed.

“Conor Bradley plays differently; he looks to run past Salah rather than serve him.

“I did some analysis on TV showing that Salah is picking up the ball about 10 per cent deeper on average than last season.

“The tactics haven’t changed, but the personnel have. Or it could just be that the team isn’t firing yet.

“Every attacking player goes through a spell like this. It’s more likely just a blip, and he’ll bounce back soon, but it could be a bit of all the above.”

Salah has scored three goals this season but hasn’t shown the same lethal finishing he demonstrated during Liverpool‘s run to the Premier League title.

The Reds initially made a flying start to the campaign, winning their first seven matches before hitting a rough patch with four consecutive losses, only to recover in the Champions League.

After being left out of the Liverpool squad earlier this week, Salah removed all mentions of Liverpool from his social media profiles, leaving Slot to likely face questions about his star player in Friday’s press conference before the Brentford match.