Liverpool’s Premier League woes continued on Sunday afternoon as they suffered a sixth consecutive home defeat, this time at the hands of Fulham.
Jurgen Klopp swept the changes for his line up at Anfield but the gamble did not pay off, with Mario Lemina’s goal enough to see the visitors claim victory on Merseyside.
Not a single Red imposed themselves on the game with Xherdan Shaqiri one of those who faced criticism from a section of the fanbase.
I want shaqiri out. Useless playing him.
— Greg Housley (@greg_housley) March 7, 2021
Shaqiri’s playtime and LFC results are inversely related. https://t.co/2zVLj74eVk
— The Kyiv Dynamo 🐊 (@KyivDynamo) March 7, 2021
Shaqiri ain’t good enough btw needs to be sold in the summer with Ox
— ً🛡 (@eoinsmc) March 7, 2021
However, it was one of the regular stars though, Mo Salah, who let the side down with a drastically poor performance.
Starting the game on the right-hand side of the Reds’ attack, he earned the lowest WhoScored rating of anyone on the pitch at just 5.32 – an inexplicable drop-off from his season average of 7.07.
Will Liverpool finish in the top four?
Yes!
No!
Currently the Premier League’s top scorer with 17, the Egyptian did not look like he was going to get on the scoresheet at all, rarely even threatening Fulham’s staunch defence.
Throughout the 90 minutes, he could only get one shot on target and produced only a solitary dribble – statistics that do not do his £108m rating justice.
He also looked on a completely different wavelength to his teammates, completing just 23 passes throughout the game, which is again the lowest of all of the starting Liverpool players, including goalkeeper Alisson.
Salah’s frustration continued to grow throughout the game as he was also personally caught offside twice, which is the same as every player on the pitch combined.
To make matters even worse, he was dispossessed on three separate occasions – one of those giveaways even leading to the Fulham goal. As Salah attempted to turn on the ball in his own box, Lemina was just far too strong, stole the ball and fizzed it into the bottom corner of the Liverpool net.
For a player usually so composed and threatening, the Egyptian was a liability to his side on the day.
Jurgen Klopp will certainly be expecting more from his mercurial wideman. He maybe hoped that taking Salah off against Chelsea would have fired the forward up, but judging on this performance, it may have done the opposite.
AND in more news, take a look at why Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly is a must-buy for the Reds in the summer…