The stats behind Mohamed Salah’s sluggish start to the season

Mohamed Salah was substituted in the 69th minute against Arsenal and he hasn’t quite been able to get going this season.

We’ve dived into the stats to find out why Salah has been struggling to find his form this season. 

How last season went for Salah

Last season was another sublime season for Salah as he won the Premier League Golden Boot with 23 goals and also assisted a further 13 goals. 

Liverpool ran Man City all the way to the final weekend, but just fell short in the Premier League. 

Salah’s was coming off the back of a dazzling season and was rewarded with a new long-term contract at Liverpool. 

It is worth noting that 15 of Salah’s Premier League goals came during the first half of the season and there was a notable drop off in the second half of the year. 

From January onwards, Salah scored eight league goals and three of those came from the penalty spot. 

Some people at the time pointed towards AFCON as a reason for his drop off, but the stats do imply that something chanced from January onwards. 

It was a similar story for Salah in the Champions League too as seven of the eight goals he scored in the competition were scored during the group stages. 

Liverpool made it all the way to the Champions League final, but Salah didn’t score a goal past the Round of 16.  

The 30-year-old ended the campaign with 31 goals and 16 assists across all competitions, but the context of when the goals were scored is interesting. 

Liverpool ended the season with two trophies but just fell short in the Premier League and Champions League. 

Salah’s struggles this season 

Considering how electric Salah looked at the start of last season, plenty of people thought he’d pick up the pace for Liverpool again. 

As Sadio Mane left for Bayern Munich, there would be a bigger emphasis on Salah this season, particularly with Darwin Nunez taking time to adjust to the new league. 

Salah scored on the opening gameweek of the season with a strike against Fulham, but since then he has only scored one league goal. 

Last season he was averaging a goal every 120 minutes and so far this season his scoring ratio has decreased to a goal every 349 minutes. 

He is taking an average of 2.9 shots per game, which is down from the 3.9 shots he was taking last season. 

As well as the volume of shots decreasing, the quality of the chances that he is receiving have also declined. 

Last season Salah had an xG per 90 of 0.71 which was higher than any other player in the Premier League. 

This season he has averaged an xG of 0.42 per 90 which is quite the drop off from where he was last season. 

The likes of Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino all have a higher xG per 90 than Salah in the Liverpool squad this season. 

It seems as if Klopp as slightly tweaked Salah’s role in the Liverpool side as we often see him drifting into wider areas instead of consistently attacking the box. 

The role switch has meant that Salah’s creative numbers have jumped up, but perhaps this has been at the detriment to his goalscoring numbers. 

Salah has averaged 3.3 key passes per game, which is up from the 1.8 he was averaging last season. 

Klopp will need to get Salah back to his best sooner rather than later because they currently find themselves stranded in mid-table. 

Next up for Liverpool in the league is a tricky looking home tie against Manchester City, where they will need to be at their best to get anything.