Mohamed Salah’s recent Liverpool struggles have been a major talking point, with Jamie Carragher and John Barnes among those to comment.
Ally McCoist discussed Salah’s clear dip in form ahead of the Reds’ loss to Manchester City prior to the November international break.
On the back of the 3-0 defeat, Wayne Rooney claimed the Liverpool winger’s defensive work this season hasn’t been good enough.
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Now, former player John Barnes has questioned something that Jamie Carragher has said about the Egyptian this season.
Jamie Carragher speaks on Sky Sports broadcast
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
John Barnes disagrees with Jamie Carragher about Mohamed Salah
During the latest episode of the No Tippy Tappy Football with Sam Allardyce podcast, Barnes was asked: “So Liverpool this season, Carragher’s recently said that Salah now can’t start every game like he used to. What do you think?”
He responded by saying that the 33-year-old can start every match for Liverpool.
Barnes said: “Well, Salah can start every game. It’s just the fact that Liverpool are now playing in a different way. I mentioned the fact of the way with Thomas Tuchel in terms of the way England plays.
“Now, of course, before in the old days, Trent was the creator and Salah was the finisher. The way we played was designed for Salah to score goals and to get the ball to Salah or get it forward for Salah to get on the end of things. Whereas now we’re playing in a much different way.
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“You got Wirtz, you got Ekitike who’s dribbling a lot, you got Gakpo on the left. So we’re playing in a different way, which means that Salah isn’t going to be as impactful. It’s nothing to do with him himself being 33, 34.
“It’s the fact that the team is now playing in a different way to create chances for different people. So it coincides with the fact that he’s 33, 34, and people putting 2 and 2 together, and in my opinion, coming up with five
“So he can start every game, but he won’t start every game because we now have an abundance of strikers, so therefore he can leave him out.”
Mohamed Salah in action during Egypt's FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Djibouti
Photo by ABDEL MAJID BZIOUAT/AFP via Getty Images
Is Mohamed Salah injured ahead of Nottingham Forest
Despite continued question marks over Salah’s form, the winger still has five goals and three assists in 16 matches this season.
Only Hugo Ekitike has scored more goals for the Reds, and losing the winger for any length of time would be a blow.
Recently, Salah missed Egypt’s clash with Cape Verde, which may have raised concerns ahead of this weekend’s meeting with Nottingham Forest.
But the official statement from Egypt did not mention an injury for the Liverpool ace.
It read: “The absence of the duo Ahmed Sayed Zizo and Hamdi Fathi from the Cape Verde match due to injury was also confirmed, and Salah Mohsen underwent recovery training, in addition to giving Mohamed Salah a rest, and his non-participation in the Cape Verde friendly.”