After the brilliant 2024-2025 season that helped Liverpool win the Premier League, Mohamed Salah is again experiencing one of the least effective seasons since joining Anfield. The sharp drop in numbers raises many questions about the performance of the Egyptian star under Arne Slot.
Last season, Salah extinguished all doubts about the decline with his brilliant form. He scored 34 goals and had 23 assists after 52 matches in all competitions. In which, in the Premier League alone, there were 29 goals and 18 assists, making a great contribution to helping Liverpool win the championship.
That was also Slot's first season at Anfield, and the Dutch strategist seemed to have found a way to maximize the ability of the Egyptian superstar.
Salah admitted that right on the day Liverpool won the championship at Anfield against Tottenham: "You can see the numbers. Now I don't need to defend much anymore. The tactics are different. I said that if the defensive task is reduced, I will make a difference in attack".
That explosive form helped Salah extend his contract for another 2 years. However, things have changed significantly in the 2025-2026 season.
After 32 matches in all competitions, Salah has only 9 goals and 8 assists. For many other wingers, this is still an acceptable achievement, but for a star like Salah, it is clearly a significant decline.
His least effective season before was 2019-2020, when Salah participated in 36 goals in all competitions. To achieve the same number this season, he will have to score more than double in the remainder of the season.
The difference is even clearer if compared directly. Last season, Salah only needed 16 matches to reach 17 goals. After 32 matches in that season, he contributed 40 times to goals.
Initially, Salah adapted very quickly to Slot's system. In the first 41 matches working together, he scored 32 goals and had 22 assists. But in the next 43 matches, this number dropped sharply to 11 goals and 9 assists.
So what happened?
Age may be a factor, but it is difficult to see it as the main reason when he still exploded last season even though he is only one year older than he is now.
Another possibility is the change of role in Slot's system. Even in December, Salah was excluded from the starting lineup in some matches, including the 3-3 draw with Leeds United when he was not brought on.
After that match, Salah admitted that he felt pushed into a difficult position and said that the relationship between him and the coach suddenly was no longer the same as before.
However, everything was then resolved. After returning from the African Cup in January, Salah returned to the main squad and scored 4 goals and 4 assists in 12 matches.
He has also just scored 2 consecutive goals against Wolves in the Premier League and FA Cup - for the first time since October and November. However, Salah's performance in the Champions League against Galatasaray still showed problems. In 60 minutes of play, he did not have any shots, only touched the ball once in the opponent's penalty area and made exactly one pass into the last 1/3 of the field.
Salah's decline in form also reflects part of Liverpool's decline this season. After a perfect start with 5 consecutive wins in the Premier League, their ambition to defend the throne has collapsed and now Liverpool is fighting to win a Champions League spot.
Liverpool also tried to reduce dependence on Salah when they signed Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak last summer. However, perhaps they did not expect Salah's performance decline to come so quickly.
Statistics also show a clear problem. Salah only scores an average of 0.24 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes this season - the lowest since he joined Liverpool.
The Egyptian international also only makes an average of 2.8 shots per 90 minutes, the lowest number in his career at Anfield. Salah's conversion rate of shots into goals also decreased sharply. He only scores from 10% of non-penalty shots, significantly lower than in previous seasons.
In short, Salah is shooting less, and when shooting, the efficiency is also lower. That is a clear sign that the 2025-2026 season is becoming one of the most difficult seasons for the Egyptian star since he arrived at Anfield.
