‘Only a matter of time’ – Shearer believes one Liverpool player will soon get back to his ‘best’ | OneFootball

Alan Shearer is confident that one Liverpool player in particular will soon get back to his ‘best’ form, having had an unusually subdued start to the season.

On the face of it, a return of three goals and assists each in eight matches for Mo Salah in the early weeks of the campaign isn’t terrible by any means.

However, that was his tally after just three games in 2024/25, and by this equivalent stage of last season, he’d scored five times and set up another four goals (Transfermarkt).

Shearer believes Salah will soon get back to his ‘best’

The Egyptian drew a blank in Liverpool’s defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, when (along with his team in general) he was miles off the standards we’ve come to expect from him, but Shearer believes that the 33-year-old will be back to his more customary scoring returns once the Reds’ new-look attack reaches full cohesion.

When asked by Gary Lineker on The Rest Is Football podcast if Salah has been playing ‘wider’ this season, the ex-Newcsatle striker replied: “I don’t know whether he’s playing a little bit wider, but he certainly doesn’t look as confident, and he’s certainly not the Salah we’re used to – yet.

“It will change. It’s only a matter of time, but they’re all still trying to figure out how to get the best out of each other.”

(Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

Salah was poor on Saturday, but Shearer is right to keep the faith

As much as we adore Salah – who finished fourth in this year’s Ballon d’Or – the Palace game on Saturday may have been one of his most ineffective of the 409 that he’s played for Liverpool.

Ian Doyle didn’t spare the Egyptian in his post-match player ratings for the Liverpool Echo, writing that our number 11 ‘struggled with the basics’ and offered ‘next to nothing going forward’ in the first half on a ‘very disappointing’ afternoon by his standards.

As per Sofascore, the 33-year-old completed just 21 passes in 90+ minutes on the pitch at Selhurst Park, lost six of his seven duels, missed two ‘big chances’ and lost the ball 11 times from 37 touches. However, he was involved in a disputed handball decision for Federico Chiesa’ late equaliser.

Despite that off-day and his decreased returns from the same stage of last season, Shearer is right to retain belief that we’ll soon see the Salah who’s consistently delivered throughout his eight years at Liverpool.

The winger is still the process of forming an innate understanding with several new teammates, and we mustn’t forget that he’s still trying to come to terms with the tragic loss of his close friend Diogo Jota over the summer.

The Egyptian deserves our backing, and he has more than enough credit in the bank for us to keep faith that he’ll soon be back to his best and netting a series of decisive goals for the Reds.