Why have the goals dried up for Salah?published at 10:25 GMT
Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist
Mohamed Salah has been a virtual guarantee of goals during
his eight years at Liverpool, netting 250 times in 420 games.
This season, the 33-year-old has just four goals in the Premier League,
compared to 13 at the same stage last year. So what has changed?
Liverpool spent a combined £294m on Alexander Isak, Florian
Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike this summer, and while all three have been in and out of
the starting line-up, the team’s balance has been disrupted. All of sudden, the
Reds’ attack has a lot of mouths to feed.
As a result, Salah is getting on the ball slightly less
often inside the box. Last season 20% of his open-play touches in the Premier
League came inside the penalty area, but that figure has fallen to 15% in the
current campaign.
For the vast majority of his Liverpool career, the Egyptian
has been handed a wide role with freedom to come inside, but this term he’s
been spending slightly more time close to the touchline.
As a result, he’s actually setting up his team-mates more
often – creating an average of 2.3 chances per 90 minutes in the league, up
from 2.1 last term. However, his corresponding shot numbers have dropped from
3.4 per 90 to 2.7.