Sky Sports pundit Mark Schwarzer believes that Liverpool striker Mo Salah’s form has not dipped despite him only scoring two times so far this season.
The ex-Australia international thinks that the 5ft 9in ace’s only problem at the moment is the pressure that he heaps on himself after such an impressive Premier League 2017/18 campaign, which saw him net 31 goals.
He scored in the opening two games but has failed to find the net since – and Schwarzer has questioned whether it will start to affect him if his goal drought continues for much longer.
“The only problem he’s going to have is the pressure that he puts on himself, because he’s a top-class player, there’s no doubt of that,” Schwarzer said on Sky Sports ‘The Debate.‘
“The longer it goes on that he doesn’t find the back of the net, is that going to affect him personally? Can he put it to the back of his mind and say I’m doing what I have to do, I’m getting in the right places, but just not finding the back of the net like I did last season.
“Last season was phenomenal, but it’s just up to him whether he does that. I spoke to him a few times last season and off-camera, I said did you expect this? And he just said… yeah.”
OPINION
Salah has certainly not had the best time of it recently, but he should not be heaping pressure on himself. If this was a striker from a lower ranked team who had been struggling for form recently, then nobody would be questioning why his game has dipped. Having scored a staggering amount of goals last term, there is always going to be that expectation to replicate the same form. However, that is not always the case, and may be that Salah hit his peak too soon. If he had scored much less than he did, than perhaps he would not be under the same pressure that he is this season. There is no denying that he is still a fantastic player – after all, we are only six matches into the season, so it is rather unfair to base a player’s form on so little fixtures. Fans will undoubtedly have their fingers crossed that he does improve soon though, and reach the dizzying heights of last year.
