Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes Mohamed Salah’s scoring struggles so far this season are being exaggerated and insists the Egyptian should not be judged on his spectacular goal return in his first year at Anfield.
Salah has scored three goals in nine games for Liverpool this season – compared to four goals in his first nine appearances of the 2017-18 campaign – and missed two presentable chances in a 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, seeing another effort cleared off the line by Antonio Rudiger after rounding Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Jurgen Klopp substituted Salah for Xherdan Shaqiri in the 66th minute and after the match admitted that “it was not the best game of Mo’s career”, fuelling suggestions that the Egyptian could struggle to match his remarkable tally of 44 goals last season.
But analysing Salah’s performances, Carragher does not see much cause for concern. “He's not in great form, but I don't really think he's in bad form either,” he told Sky Sports of the Liverpool forward. “I think a little bit too much has probably been made of Salah's form. He is only one goal down on last season.
“I hope Klopp is saying this to him about the goals he scored last season: if he doesn't get over 40 goals, it doesn't mean he's had a bad season.
“Ian Rush was Liverpool's greatest ever goalscorer and he only got 47 in one season. He never got 47 again, he would score 25 or 30 goals a season. If Salah gets 25 goals then he's had a great season.”
Salah may not be at the top of the Premier League scoring charts but he does rank first in the division using Opta’s Expected Goals data with 5.34, ahead of Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero (4.28) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (3.79) excluding penalties.
“He's scored three goals which is not a million miles away from what it was last season and it's not a bad start,” Carragher added.
“The Expected Goals shows you he is still getting a lot of chances. We know from last season that he misses chances. Even though he scored a lot of goals, he misses big chances.
“That lad will always score goals because he still makes the runs in the right positions. I've got no problem with how many goals he's scored or what he's like around the box. He is doing okay.”
