John Aldridge has highlighted Mo Salah’s struggles of late following his return from a two-legged World Cup qualifier clash with Senegal.
The Egyptian’s recent form has been far removed from the kind of performances regularly witnessed during the first-half of the campaign that saw him rightly considered as the globe’s leading talent.
“As good as he is, as great as he is, as much as we love him, on present form he’s struggling,” the Liverpool legend told Sky Sports (via The Boot Room).
“People might say he’s had his head turned but his contract situation doesn’t help.
“He hasn’t scored from open play for six weeks and he’s just not himself on the pitch.”
Worryingly, the 29-year-old has yet to score a goal from open-play since the 3-1 victory over Norwich City in February – a troubling reality in one of the most important months of football for the Reds.
Jurgen Klopp pointed to the weight of expectation on the former Roma hitman’s shoulders of late with his international team as a potential explanation for his slump.
It’s a reasonable explanation in light of the testing few weeks Salah has been exposed to, suffering multiple doses of heartbreak against teammate Sadio Mane’s Senegal.
With so much left to play for at a domestic level, however, we have to hope that the prospect of a historic season with Liverpool (not to mention potential individual awards up for grabs) will help bring out the best of our top goalscorer in a season-defining month of football.