Premier League legend feels Mohamed Salah ‘needs to work harder’ for his team. After a perfect start to the league, Liverpool’s season has been faltering after back-to-back defeats against Crystal Palace and Chelsea. The two league defeats came in between a Champions League loss away at Galatasaray.
The Egyptian was by far the best player in the Premier League last term, winning almost all of the year end awards. However this year he has been far from perfect, with goals and assist drying up.
From a perfect five match winning run the two losses has seen the Anfield based club sliding down the table to second place. League rivals Arsenal who were five-points behind have seen themselves climbing up the table, opening a one-point lead.
Quiz: Name the team Liverpool signed these players from in the 2010s
Mohamed Salah faces criticism from Manchester United legend
Credits : Imago Images
In the 2024/25 season Salah had 48 goal contributions, finding the net 29 times and turning provider on 19 occasions. Having played in all 38 games, he was crucial in the Reds confirming their twentieth first division league title.
However, 2025/26 has been a different story. Having featured in all seven league fixtures, the prolific striker has been less than prolific with four goal contributions so far. This would have been a good number for someone of lesser stature. But the standards set by the Egyptian has been far more exceptional.
“Over the last week, I’ve questioned his work ethic. We know he doesn’t always get back and defend as much”, declared Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney on the Wayne Rooney Show.
The former English star found Salah ball watching against Chelsea,” His full back is getting torn apart. He is watching, not getting back and helping. For me that’s was a worry and he looked a little bit lost over the last weekend”.
Chelsea player admits to exploiting Salah’s weakness
Unlike his teammate Cody Gakpo, the 33-year-old forward does not track back to help out the full-back on his side of the pitch. Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella admitted to exploiting this weakness in the Liverpool line.
Speaking to Sky Sports the Spaniard revealed, “We know that Salah is always ready for the counter attack so we practiced that and the manager said that the space might be there. We saw that it was the last minute but we kept attacking. I tried to give my last effort and Enzo gave me the ball and I crossed for Estevao.”
Having signed a new super in earlier this year, Salah needs to replicate his past year’s exploits. For close to a decade he has been the go to man for the Reds but eras do come to an end and it remains to be seen whether this one is nearing its end.
