Jamie Carragher has revealed his ‘one slight worry’ over Mohamed Salah and claimed Liverpool have started to look like a Jurgen Klopp team again.
Salah has managed just three goals and three assists in ten games this season, well below the form that fired Arne Slot’s side to the Premier League title last term.
The Egyptian forward scored 34 goals and provided 23 assists in Slot’s first campaign, but has struggled for consistency since the summer, with Carragher arguing the shift in Liverpool’s style has affected him.
Speaking on Sky Sports ahead of the Reds clash against Manchester United, Carragher reflected that Salah ‘will be missing Trent Alexander-Arnold’, and stressed the importance of that long-standing partnership.
‘I don’t think he’s been asked to do anything differently,’ Carragher said. ‘He will be missing Trent Alexander-Arnold, who wouldn’t? That partnership wasn’t just last season; it was built up over five or six seasons.
‘Liverpool have used four right-backs this season so that doesn’t help and it shows that no matter how big of important the individual player is, they need help. There’s no doubt about that.’
Jamie Carragher believes that Mo Salah ‘has to do more’ after making an uncharacteristically slow start to the campaign
Salah has managed just three goals and three assists in ten games this season, well below the form that fired Arne Slot’s side to the Premier League title
Carragher maintained that Salah must now deliver greater attacking returns, warning that his current output has fallen short of expectations.
‘But, right now as well, Salah needs to do more, in terms of output, there’s doubt about that,’ he added. ‘One slight worry I have about Salah is that normally his bad runs of form come at the end of the season. He normally comes flying out of the blocks, especially when he’s had the summer off.
‘And I was expecting that this season. Especially off the back of Liverpool signing Isak and Wirtz, and them getting all the headlines.’
Carragher, who won the Champions League during his Liverpool career, also assessed the team’s wider tactical identity under Slot, drawing comparisons with Klopp’s trademark high-tempo football.
‘I think the big problem is defensively, conceding goals,’ he said. ‘That’s a complete contrast to what we saw last season.
‘The interesting thing this season is that you almost feel like you’re watching a Jurgen Klopp type of team, whereas last season, Arne Slot came in, didn’t buy anyone but he added something to it.
‘The whole team seemed to have a little bit more control. It wasn’t end-to-end like we saw sometimes under Klopp but that’s come back.
‘When you listen to the manager speak, he says that even though Liverpool won the league last season, a lot of games were by the odd goal so it’s almost like he’s gone into the transfer market to get better attacking players.
Carragher also assessed the team’s wider tactical identity under Slot, drawing comparisons with Klopp’s trademark high-tempo football
‘He’s got a lot of options and that’s created a lot of problems for him so it’s going to be interesting to see what he’s going to do.’
Liverpool face the Red Devils at Anfield on Sunday, with Salah hoping to add to his tally of 16 goals in 17 games against their fiercest rivals.
Slot’s men have lost their last three matches in all competitions but can return to second in the table, a point behind leaders Arsenal, with a win.
