Dean Saunders has excused the form of Mohamed Salah, in part, but he also asked four questions of the Liverpool icon amid his struggles this season.

Salahis nowhere close this season to where he was last. Indeed, last term was one of the very best of his career, as he guaranteed himself a new Liverpooldeal with 57 direct goal contributions in all competitions, which included a golden boot-winning 29 goals in the Premier League.

This term, the Reds icon has just five goals and four assists from 20 games in all competitions, and has been benched of late as a result.

He feels the club are “throwing me under the bus” as a result, though it is hard to argue his performances pale in comparison to those of last term.

Saunders feels there are some reasons for his dip, but Salah also must take some responsibility.

He told GOAL: “Who would have thought it could go this wrong? But I did think at the time, he’s going to miss Trent because Trent’s disguised passing got him in.

“Full-backs knew where Salah was but Trent wouldn’t even look at him sometimes and find him. Trent played inside him and passed the ball outside and said ‘if you need me, if you need to give it back to me, when you give it back I’ve got the magic wand to find anybody in the box.’

“He was brilliant at it, whipping in a cross or pinging one. Clubs made sure they got someone out to Trent because they knew he could hurt them, and that left Mo Salah one-v-one with the full-back. Now, they are leaving the full-back on the ball because they can’t hurt them like Trent did. They have had five right-backs play

“I’m sticking up for him a little bit here. He’s lost [Diogo] Jota and [Darwin] Nunez and [Luis] Diaz. Diaz used to go outside the full-back and cross it. [Cody] Gakpo never goes outside the full-back. He’s lost Andy Robertson, who used to join in with Diaz and overlap and get to the byline and Mo Salah is coming in from the other wing.

“He’s got a bit of an argument on why he’s not playing well, which is fair enough. But I would say to him: ‘When’s the last time you beat the full-back? When was the last time you cut inside and hit one in the top corner? When’s the last goal you scored? When’s the last time you looked like Mo Salah, the one we know? So look in the mirror and sort your own game out.’

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“I understand what he’s saying, but to then come out with what he did after it was obvious that Slot has gone for a clean sheet at West Ham. He’s obviously gone ‘we need a clean sheet, I’m going to sacrifice attacking’ and he played [Dominik] Szoboszlai in Mo’s position and it looked a bit more solid, considering the back four has been a shambles all season.

“And the game at Inter, that was the best back four he could put out – Joe Gomez, [Virgil] van Dijk, [Ibrahima] Konate and Andy Robertson, with Alisson behind, a tight midfield, and they looked a bit harder to beat again.

“He must understand what the manager is trying to do by leaving him out, but in his head he thinks ‘I’m the best player in the world, how can you do this to me?’ He shouldn’t have said what he said and he needs to apologise. If he apologises, things can be swept under the carpet.”

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