is underperforming for Liverpool so far this season and ‘needs a kick’ to improve his displays, according to former midfielder Danny Murphy.
The Reds are enduring a poor start to the season, having competed for an unprecedented quadruple right up until the end of the last campaign in May, having won just two of their opening seven fixtures.
They were humiliatingly beaten 4-1 by Napoli in the opening UEFA group stage fixture last week, conceding a series of wretched goals with clear deficiencies in all areas of the pitch.
Salah for his part has scored twice so far, away in a draw at Fulham and defeat at when those around him were playing especially poorly.
But the Egyptian has been struggling to impact matches, and is often sticking very wide to the touchline much more often than in the past, in what appears to be a bizarre tactical choice on manager Jurgen Klopp’s part.
Murphy, though, insists that Salah himself it to blame for his indifferent displays and has accused the player of being complacent.
‘We’ve got to be careful to not go too overboard on this but my feeling is there’s an air of complacency among some of the players’ he told . ‘They’ve fallen into what some managers call a “comfort zone”.’
‘Salah’s one, Salah needs a kick,’ he added. ‘It’s nothing to do with the contract he signed but sometimes you need it. When you’ve scored that many goals and do what he’s done sometimes you just need upstairs to say “come on.”
Murphy also believes that a member of the Liverpool staff should be willing to castigate a player in front of his team-mates in order to achieve some sort of reaction.
‘If it means digging someone out in front of the rest of the lads [so be it], Murphy added. ‘I’ve seen it before, the best midfielder Liverpool have ever had in history [Steven Gerrard]. I remember seeing him at half-time in a Champions League game being told to get a shower. Nobody saw that coming!’
After Saturday’s match at home to Wolves was postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Liverpool’s Champions League campaign continues against Ajax at Anfield on Tuesday evening.
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