Mohamed Salah has had to cede top billing at Liverpool this season as Hugo Ekitike continues to explode.
The Egyptian has been the Reds’ top scorer in each of his eight previous campaigns at Anfield, but Saturday’s win over Newcastle cemented the feeling that his monopoly is coming to an end.
Ekitike was the main man in what was a crucial win for Liverpool, with Salah reduced to a bit-part role.
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The 33-year-old did still claim a well-executed assist for Florian Wirtz to make it nine Premier League goal contributions for the season, but it was a night in which age looked to finally have well and truly caught up with him.
That was certainly the view of Liverpool legend Steve Nicol, who highlighted one worrying moment as confirmation that Salah is sadly now over the hill.
‘Alarm bells’ ringing over Mohamed Salah decline
During the first-half of Saturday’s game in particular, Salah just could not seem to get anything right. He ended the game with a poor 65% pass completion rate and at times that actually felt far lower.
There was a chance for reprieve with the score still at 0-0, but after being put through on goal by Dominik Szoboszlai, Salah tied himself in knots and allowed Kieran Trippier to somehow win a goal kick. According to Nicol, this was the moment his worst fears were confirmed about Liverpool’s iconic No. 11.
Mohamed Salah vies with Lewis Hall during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United
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“We’ve all been asking the same question, how can you go from there to there so quickly,” he said on ESPN FC. “Generally it takes a bit of time when you start losing a bit of pace and your balance and all these things.
“Trippier doesn’t play every week because Trippier’s legs have gone. He’s a guy on the other side of his career. Today Mo Salah had four yards on him. A ball was played through by Szoboszlai, could’ve been a little firmer, that would’ve helped him, but Trippier caught him comfortably.
“And Salah, actually, at no stage during that little passage looked comfortable on the ball. He doesn’t look comfortable on the ball, he’s got a guy who’s legs we do know have gone catching him after giving him a three-yard start. That’s got to be alarm bells.”
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Mohamed Salah scores a free-kick during Liverpool's UEFA Champions League match against Qarabag at Anfield (Credit: Getty Images/Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar).
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Salah looks completely shot of confidence
With every passing week it feels as though Salah is proving that Arne Slot was absolutely right to leave him on the bench in the run-up to Christmas.
The veteran is simply not doing the basics right anymore, and according to Nicol this is the knock-on effect of Salah realising that his own decline is kicking in.
“There’s nothing worse for a footballer when you realise you’re losing things and you’re not quite sure why, but it affects every single thing that you do,” he says.
“Now when he’s giving it away it’s just chipping away at his confidence. That confidence looks as though it’s shot because any time he gets into any sort of position where he used to pick the top corner out he can’t get anywhere close anymore.”
There are still flashes of the good stuff, and Salah actually now has one goal and two assists in his last three appearances for Liverpool, but the all-round game simply has to be better.
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