Liverpool fell to a deserved defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon, with far too many of the Reds’ players slumping far below the levels they’d shown in recent weeks.
It was a particularly frustrating day for Mo Salah, whose record of scoring in every match this season was ended on what was a below-par performance from him overall.
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Speaking on punditry duty for Premier Sports, Damien Delaney was critical of the 32-year-old over his erroneous decison-making in the final third as a number of promising openings came and went without reward.
The ex-Crystal Palace defender said of our number 11 (via CaughtOffside): “His decision-making was poor today. Coming inside, couple of misplaced passes, that [highlights] package could’ve gone on for another 30 seconds, such was the regularity of him giving the ball away.”
One particular second-half moment from Salah summed up his strange off-day and justified Delaney’s criticism, when the Liverpool forward delayed a cross despite having several teammates in good positions in the penalty area, and the eventual delivery was overhit.
It was a passage of play which, in the words of Sky Sports reporter Laura Hunter, elicited ‘groans from the Kop‘ – a sound which was heard all too often this afternoon, but the fans couldn’t be blamed for feeling annoyed over what transpired on the pitch.
The Egyptian attempted five dribbles today and succeeded with only one (Sofascore), a poor return which captured just how head-scratching a performance it was for him.
We’ve come to expect so much better from an experienced, world-class player in Salah, but hopefully it was nothing more than a rare off-day from our number 11. History suggests that he’ll quickly get back on the horse, though, and hopefully he might take his frustrations out on AC Milan on Tuesday!
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Move on, fellow Reds. It was a bad day at office, nothing changes. Our players are worn out by national teams which is why Richard Hughes must take the blame for defeat. He knew what we needed yet he tied Arne’s hands behind his back by only buying an injury-prone player (who will come good)
We must stay calm
Liverpool have a serious defending problem for two seasons now. Van Dijk was a one season wonder in 2020, Konate is just as cluless in defence. I’ve never seen defenders scared to tackle especially in danger situation when Forest scored. Konate just turned away allowing the shot through. Liverpool need two defenders not scared of tackling unlike the two prima donnas they have.
Sallah also looses balls very often at the third. He was unnecessarily selfish. It is better to cross balls than just passing it to opponent goalkeeper. He does not have that fast curls in his left inside foot