Written by Han Bing On the afternoon of December 13th at Anfield, after the match ended, Salah passed through the mixed zone again. Just last week, in front of the same group of reporters and without playing, Salah took the initiative to appear and blasted the club, triggering a week of turmoil at Liverpool. This day, the Egyptian star wore a big smile and just passed by. When reporters asked him to say a few more words, he waved his hand and muttered, "I can’t be made to speak two weeks in a row," then returned to the locker room.

It seemed the matter was settled, disappointing those who expected Liverpool to escalate the issue into a bigger joke. After this victory, especially with Salah coming off the bench to assist, everyone appeared content. The Egyptian legend is about to join the national team for the Africa Cup of Nations, meaning nearly a month of silence on the Salah controversy. But has the problem really been solved?

One of Liverpool’s greatest players ever, just six months ago, Salah helped Liverpool win the Premier League with 34 goals and 23 assists in 52 matches. Now, he only bids farewell to the team by contributing to a goal after 44 days’ absence before heading to Morocco for the Africa Cup. The winter transfer window will open soon, and the Liverpool legend could leave at any time. This is not the ending fans want to see. Unfortunately, the situation is only temporarily calm, still filled with open-ended uncertainty...

A sharp decline in statistics—is it just because he’s less sharp?

Six months ago, Salah was Premier League champion, Golden Boot winner, top assist provider, and MVP of both the players’ and journalists’ associations, at the peak of his career. But so far this season, his stats have plummeted dramatically: in 20 appearances, only 5 goals and 4 assists. Last season at this time, he had 15 goals and 13 assists, with goals, assists, and overall goal involvement all reduced to one-third. It’s worth noting that in his eight seasons at Liverpool, his lowest comparable performance was 13 goals and 4 assists in 2018/19.

At the start of the season, Liverpool won six consecutive matches across the Premier League and Champions League, with Salah contributing 3 goals and 3 assists, which was decent. But in the following 11 games, he only scored 2 goals. During that period, Liverpool won 3 and lost 8, including 1 win and 6 losses in the league. Salah only scored the opener against Aston Villa, securing 3 points. Compared to last season, Salah’s decline this season is not limited to goals and assists but is an all-around drop: goals per game (0.29), assists per game (0.21), shots per game (3.6), shots on target (0.79), shot conversion rate (11%), touches in the opponent’s penalty area (6.8), and successful dribbles (0.86) are all the lowest since joining Liverpool in 2017.

This season’s sharp drop in Salah’s Premier League goals is due to fewer shots, decreasing from 3.48 per game to 2.57. So far, he has taken 45 shots with only 11 on target, a conversion rate of just 11%, meaning it takes 9 shots on average for one goal. Although his chance creation is almost the same as last season, the number of clear-cut chances per game has nearly halved (from 0.72 to 0.4). His dribbles per game (3.8) are the highest since 2021/22, but successful dribbles per game are only 0.9 with a success rate of 23.4%, the lowest since joining Liverpool. Compared to last season, his touches per game in the Premier League slightly increased (50.9), but touches inside the opponent’s penalty area dropped sharply by 30.5%, from 10.5 to 7.3. In short, Salah’s ball-winning success and threat levels have significantly diminished this season!

Of course, Salah is not lacking effort. This season, among Liverpool forwards, he leads in tackles in the opponent’s attacking third with 0.8 per game. His pressing actions (592) are only behind Wirtz (733) and Soboslai (751), with 377 being high-intensity presses (within 2 meters of the opponent), also second only to Wirtz (479) and Soboslai (518).

The impact of Arnold’s departure has been greatly underestimated

Salah’s offensive stats began to plummet right after successfully renewing his contract. Since the renewal, he has recorded only 7 goals and 5 assists in 27 games, compared to 32 goals and 22 assists in 45 games prior.

There are many reasons for the decline in stats and performance, and blaming age alone is definitely incorrect.

Arnold’s departure has had a huge impact. Last season in the Premier League, he delivered 147 breakthrough passes to Salah, at least 39 more than any other pairing. This season, Liverpool’s right-back has seen a two-thirds drop in similar data per game. Last season, Arnold and Salah played 33 Premier League games together; Salah averaged 10.5 touches in the opponent’s penalty area, 3.5 shots per game, and scored 27 goals. In matches Arnold missed over two seasons, Salah’s touches in the box dropped to 7.2 per game, shots to 2.3, and goals to only 6.

This season, Salah’s touches in the opponent’s penalty area have decreased, with more touches near the right sideline and in the opponent’s midfield. His receiving positions have become more fixed, making his runs easier for defenders to predict. Last season, Salah had the most forward passes received in the attacking third in the Premier League (passes that advance the ball at least 25% closer to goal), but this season that number has dropped by nearly two-thirds. Liverpool as a team still leads the league in forward passes per game but has decreased by 10% compared to last season. Although Salah remains the top in the team for receiving passes before coming off the bench, a significant portion of the total has been taken by new signing Wirtz.

In the Premier League this season, Liverpool’s 26 goals include only 3 scored with the left foot and 20 with the right. This is clearly unusual for a team with Salah’s “golden left foot.” Last season, Liverpool scored 86 league goals, with 40 from the left foot and only 32 from the right. So far this season, Salah has scored only twice with his left foot in the Premier League, including one penalty.

In other words, changes in partnerships, overall team tactics, and strategies have been transformative for Salah, and he has not adapted in a timely or effective manner. On the surface, he and the team have reconciled, but after the Africa Cup, the core issues in Liverpool’s current crisis remain: first, Salah must actively integrate into the team’s new strategy and personnel structure; second, the club must once again prioritize resources for Salah. Otherwise, Liverpool may have to make a tough decision to part ways.