Luis Garcia has claimed Mohamed Salah’s drop in recent form is due to the Liverpool winger staying too wide and not taking players on like he used to.
The Egyptian King has been notably quiet during the opening month of the campaign, scoring just two goals in six Premier League appearances and failing to contribute to a 9-0 win against Bournemouth. Salah’s form has aligned with a string of lacklustre team performances, most recently the 4-1 Champions League humbling at Napoli.
Such performances have drawn criticism of the 30-year-old, who signed a new three-year contract in the summer worth a reported £350,000-per-week, and ex-Liverpool forward Garcia believes the dip in form is typified by the lack of direct running that has become commonplace on the Reds right-wing.
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp can 'reinvent' Liverpool with tactical ploy he perfected at Borussia Dortmund
“You can see and I’m sure that Mo Salah knows himself very well, you can see that he’s not beating players one-v-one,” Garcia told ESPN FC. “He’s not running into the box, he’s far away from the box, too wide at times. He’s not close to the box where he’s very dangerous.
“I think that Mo Salah needed a rest (against Napoli). It’s very important that the players understand that it’s very difficult to play 63, 70 games that they played last year. There are going to be rotations because there’s a World Cup in between and some players are going to need a rest.”
There has been a marked drop off in Salah’s attempted dribbles, with the former Roma and Chelsea winger attempting 3.5 dribbles per 90 minutes compared to 4.43 last season - as per data from FBRef . Despite this, Salah is completing more dribbles - i.e. taking the man on - than the previous campaign, averaging 2.0 successful dribbles per 90 minutes compared to 1.86 last season.
READ NEXT
-
Liverpool face more fixture chaos as Premier League 'consider switch' for Chelsea game
-
How Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Liverpool's summer departures have fared so far this season
-
David Alaba gives three reasons why Jude Bellingham would suit Liverpool
-
Werner, Gotze, Pepe and two other transfer flops that proved Liverpool right
-
Paul Merson makes Liverpool top four prediction and Manchester United claim
