'His brother turned up this season!' - Mohamed Salah slammed for 'lack of appetite' at Liverpool as Graeme Souness pinpoints first warning sign in Community Shield

Since his move from AS Roma to Liverpool in 2017, Salah has been one of the best players in the Premier League. He has won the Golden Boot four times - twice shared - and has been named the Premier League's Player of the Season on two occasions. In the 2024-25 campaign, Salah registered 57 goal contributions in 52 matches across all competitions as he played a key role in the Reds winning the English top-flight title for a record equalling 20th time, and was subsequently rewarded with a new contract. 

However, it seems age is finally catching up with Egyptian legend as his performance levels this term have dropped considerably. The 33-year-old has only scored four goals in Liverpool's opening 12 Premier League matches and has been accused of shirking his defensive duties.

Speaking to talkSPORT, former Reds star Souness said: "How long have we got?. He's been an absolute superstar. This is the nicest thing I can say about Salah, he's been the go-to man for the last seven years. If you're picking an all-time Liverpool eleven, he's one of the first names on the team sheet. I think it's his brother that's turned up this season."

He added: "To me, I saw an incident in that Community Shield, just looking for little signals. There was a ball, he had his back to the sideline and a ball was played up and it's going towards the left-back in that game against Crystal Palace and he could easily have gone there. He's not going to win it, he's not a big strong aerial type, but at least he goes and makes life a little bit difficult for the full-back to do what he wants to do with it. He made no attempt to make that challenge. I'm thinking, he's never been the bravest, he's never going to get hurt in a 50/50, he's cute as anything and I wouldn't want him to because he's such a genius at the top end. But he's shown a lack of appetite and, I'm sorry, hard words sometimes are the kindest words and I think he needs hard words that ultimately are getting him back to being the superstar that he's been for Liverpool, but this season he has not turned up."

Looking for smarter football bets? Get expert previews, data-driven predictions & winning insights with GOAL Tips on Telegram. Join our growing community now!

After the Reds' 2-1 loss to Chelsea last month, Blues defender Marc Cucurella pointed out a key weakness in the Liverpool side as he said: "We tried to attack (on their right side) always because we know that Salah is always ready to attack, to play the counter attack. So we know that, we practice and the manager tells us that the space is maybe there. We saw that in the last minute.

"Yeah, I think they play one style of game that Salah is always ready to attack so we prepare that. If we do the crosses [with] maybe a lot of pace on them, so I think we try to make these things on our side and today it worked, and we can win the game in this way."

Following Liverpool's humiliating 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, which saw them drop to 12th in the table, former Reds defender Jamie Carragher did not shy away from calling out Salah. He said on Monday Night Football: "I only ever hear Salah speak when he gets man of the match, or he needs a new contract. I'd like to see Mo Salah come out as one of the leaders, as one of the legends of Liverpool, come out and speak for the team."

Slot will hope to get Liverpool back on the winning track when they host PSV in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The Reds will return to Premier League action away at West Ham four days later.