Salah's 'poor form' is good news for Liverpool

The Egyptian has not been at his brilliant best so far this season - but how good will the Reds be when he is?
It was a celebration that spoke of relief as much as anything.

As Roberto Firmino fired home Liverpool’s winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night , as Anfield exploded, one TV camera caught the reaction of Mohamed Salah, sat on the Reds’ bench.

Up went his arms, down went his water bottle. Off went the conspiracy theorists, speculating across social media about the Egyptian’s happiness or otherwise. Did he look angry? Frustrated? Jealous even?

Salah is not usually sat down when Liverpool score a vital goal, of course, so perhaps the conjecture is to be expected, even if it is misplaced. Having feared he had thrown away two Champions League points for his team – his wayward pass had led to Kylian Mbappe’s out-of-the-blue equaliser for PSG – Salah’s relief is understandable. He’s bailed his side out plenty of times in the past 12 months, this time Firmino did it for him. Cheers, Bobby.

Maybe the wider issue surrounds Salah’s general form. As Liverpool march on, with six wins from six to start the new campaign , last season’s star man is still searching for his best. His performances thus far have seen flashes of class interspersed with moments of wastefulness, signs of frustration and, for now, a slowing of his manic goalscoring rate.

No shame in that, by the way. Maintaining the incredible standards of last term was always going to be a challenge this time around. Record-breaking seasons can be hard to follow, especially when the world and his wife is set up to stop you hurting them, and when you spent your summer months expending energy shaking off a shoulder injury to be fit for the World Cup, only to see your dream turn into a nightmare.

The bare statistics say that Salah has ‘only’ scored twice in six matches this season, while the eye test will tell you he has missed chances at Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Tottenham that he would have expected to bury, and that his touch and distribution has been sloppier than we are used to.

They will also have spotted, particularly at Wembley last weekend, the 26-year-old’s annoyance at misplaced passes, or even the reluctance of team-mates to play him in. Sadio Mane certainly had him throwing his shoulders back in frustration at Tottenham on more than one occasion.

And yet, a glance at last season offers some perspective. In Liverpool’s opening six games of 2017-18, Salah scored three times. His side, meanwhile, lost one of those games 5-0, and drew another of them 3-3.

It was not really until October that Salah’s scoring rate exploded. From the 7-0 win over Maribor on October 17 until the victory over Leicester on December 30, he netted 17 goals in 17 games. Prior to that, his rate was six in 12.

Crucially, Liverpool this season look less reliant on him. Mane has started the season well, while Firmino has been their match-winner in each of their last three games. Daniel Sturridge marked his first start for the club since last December with a goal against PSG, while new signing Xherdan Shaqiri is yet to be unleashed fully.

With that in mind, could Salah’s ‘dip in form’ actually be good news for Jurgen Klopp? His side are winning games narrowly right now – their last four have come via a one-goal margin - imagine what they’ll look like when their Egyptian King starts flying again?