Jurgen Klopp has given his thoughts on the current form of Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian has scored 17 goals in all competitions this season but since the winter has failed to perform to his usually excellent standards.
Klopp’s comments were reported by ESPN, in which the German spoke about how the changing dynamics in Liverpool’s attack in the last 12 months have forced Salah to adjust.
The sale of his longtime strike partner Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich was sure to have an effect on Salah’s performances. The two, along with Roberto Firmino, were among the best front three’s in world football for a number of seasons.
Injuries to Firmino, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz this season, as well as the arrivals of Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo has led to an unsettled attack, one in which Salah finds himself having to regularly adapt to new strike partners.
“Of course, Mo is suffering. It was a well-drilled machine the front three, everything was clear [in] what we were doing. Everybody suffers from that, that’s clear,” Klopp said.
“It is specific, offensive play that requires a lot of work and a lot of information, and not always obvious information. You create a feeling about a lot of these things, about where your teammate is and where to pass the ball without looking.”
“In two or three weeks a couple more options will be available and we can mix it up. When Darwin is playing, he is obviously more high up, going in behind,” the Liverpool boss continued.
“We never played with a [number] nine before. Even when Sadio played in the position he was dropping [back] in moments. That’s not Darwin’s game, he wants to have balls at his feet and he’s a real handful there.
“It is all good if they would all be in and we could build something, but we haven’t been able to do that yet.”
