Arne Slot has admitted that, by his high standards, Mohamed Salah is finding himself out of form, but the Liverpool head coach has a team-wide reason why that could be.
Salah has three goals and three assists in nine appearances so far this season, which is far from poor for a winger.
But after a campaign that brought 34 goals and 23 assists in 52 games in all competitions, it is clear that the No. 11 is not operating at his usual elite standard.
That is highlighted by the fact he has only scored five goals in his last 20 games – stretching back to March.
Slot admits that is the case, but asked whether he believes the Egyptian is currently out of form he gave a broader reason why.
“I see the same [with Mo’s form now] as the second part of last season, when he scored 12 goals – five from a penalty, one from a set-piece, so six open-play goals,” Slot explained.
“He is part of a team that faces different opposition than the first half of last season.
“Compare how we’ve won the away game against Man United, where they tried to play out from the back and we took the ball three times off them, and you compare that to the way Man Unitedplayed at Anfield where Onana only went long.
“That is one of the answers why it’s more difficult for us to score from open play.
“Mo was a part of this already, you could see in the second half of last season and the first part of this season.
Liverpool are scoring fewer open-play goals
“But now you’re focused on Mo, the next time you’re focused on Florian, then you’re focused on Cody.
“What I’m trying to say is that we don’t score as many open-play goals as we did in the first part of last season.
“This is something we work on very hard and the more we will play together in the new setup, the better that will go.
“But yeah, we still struggle a bit to find enough goals from open play, second part of last season and the first part of this season.”
Liverpool are no longer underdogs, having thrived in the first half of his debut season in charge before battling to win the Premier League title in the business end, and opponents have adapted to that challenge.
There is certainly a case to argue that the shift in system, from a more orthodox 4-3-3 to a setup closer to a 4-2-3-1, is the main contributing factor towards the lack of open-play goals.
However Slot clearly sees it as a necessary change – particularly in accommodating a No. 10 in Florian Wirtz– to ensure his side are less predictable, and Salah should eventually benefit.