Salah’s lost his Mojo as ‘we’ve lost our way’
JURGEN KLOPP has conceded that striker Mo Salah is suffering because of the breakdown of Liverpool’s well-oiled attacking machine.
Salah has just seven Premier League goals from 19 starts this season, his worst ratio since he joined the club in 2017. Asked if the lack of continuity within his front line is harming the Egyptian, Klopp said: “Suffering? Of course.
“Usually you have a real basis you build on and that is what we don’t have. That is not so difficult to explain.”
Klopp said Liverpool’s forward line when Salah (below) joined was a “well-drilled machine,” adding: “Everyone was clear what we were doing. When it’s not like that, everyone suffers.”
Liverpool’s front three now would most likely be Salah, £80m summer signing Darwin Nunez, and Luis Diaz, who arrived a year ago. But injuries have meant the trio have played together for just 343 minutes this season, and Klopp says that lack of continuity explains Salah’s glaring loss of form.
Asked about the lack of game time together, he said: “Offensive work relies on quality but also information. It is how to work, how to move, where you can pass the ball. In two or three weeks we hope to have better options and we can mix it up.”
Salah’s poor stats can partly be explained by the fact that Liverpool have not been given a single penalty in the Premier League this season. Normally he could rely upon half a dozen spot-kicks to swell his numbers.
Adapting to Nunez operating as a more traditional No.9 has been a learning experience for the entire Liverpool team, Klopp admitted.
“We’ve never played with a 9 before,” Klopp (with Salah, above) said. “Even when Sadio Mane was there, he was dropping deep at certain moments and that is not Darwin’s game.
“This situation is not perfect but the basis of the last two games is something I like.”
The two games Klopp is referring to are the 1-0 FA Cup defeat of Wolves and the 0-0 draw with Chelsea last weekend.
Victory in the FA Cup at Brighton tomorrow would help to erase the memory of a 3-0 defeat there a fortnight ago which Klopp described as the worst performance in his time at Anfield.
He said: “We had intense talks after the Brighton game. A couple of days later we played Wolves and we looked a different team. It looked like two completely different sports. But I will not show all the bad situations from Brighton. It would be a proper horror show and we have seen that already.”