Salah Struggling as Liverpool’s Front Three No Longer ‘Well-Drilled’, Says Klopp

Mohamed Salah of Liverpool reacts after the English Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC in Liverpool, Britain, 21 January 2023. (EPA)
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool reacts after the English Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC in Liverpool, Britain, 21 January 2023. (EPA)
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Salah Struggling as Liverpool’s Front Three No Longer ‘Well-Drilled’, Says Klopp

Mohamed Salah of Liverpool reacts after the English Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC in Liverpool, Britain, 21 January 2023. (EPA)
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool reacts after the English Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC in Liverpool, Britain, 21 January 2023. (EPA)

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah's struggles in front of goal are down to the club no longer having the "well-drilled" front three that terrorized defenses in the past, manager Juergen Klopp said.

Although Salah has scored 17 goals in all competitions at the halfway mark this season, he has scored only seven in the Premier League where he has averaged nearly 24 goals a season during his time with Liverpool.

The Egyptian forward has won three Golden Boots for most goals in a season, but has been far from his best after the summer departure of his strike partner Sadio Mane and injuries to Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.

"Of course Mo is suffering. It was a well-drilled machine the front three, everything was clear (in) what we were doing. Everybody suffers from that, that's clear," Klopp told reporters.

"It is specific, offensive play that requires a lot of work and lot of information, and not always obvious information. You create a feeling about a lot of these things, about where your team mate is and where to pass the ball without looking."

Mane moved to Bayern Munich in the close season while Jota, Firmino and Diaz have not played since the World Cup, with Liverpool falling to ninth in the standings.

Liverpool reinforced their attack with the mid-season signing of Dutch forward Cody Gakpo who is still adapting to the team, while Darwin Nunez has not been consistent, scoring just one goal in the FA Cup since the season restarted last month.

"In two or three weeks a couple more options will be available and we can mix it up. When Darwin is playing, he is obviously more high up, going in behind," Klopp added.

"We never played with a (number) nine before. Even when Sadio played in the position he was dropping (back) in moments. That's not Darwin's game, he wants to have balls at his feet and he's a real handful there.

"It is all good if they would all be in and we could build something, but we haven't been able to do that yet."



Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
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Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

There are few benefits to losing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam but when Iga Swiatek had her fingers prised off the French Open trophy, it had one unexpected benefit -- it lifted the pressure off her shoulders heading into Wimbledon.

Swiatek crushed Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday after years of trying and failing to make a major impact at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

She has made no secret of her preference for clay courts and her four French Open titles were clear evidence that Paris's red dirt was more to her liking than Wimbledon's lawns, Reuters reported.

Yet her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semi-finals in early June ended her chances of a fourth straight title in Paris and ensured few were tipping her for a career-best run at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm not going to have seasons where the pressure is not going to be kind of forced on me from the expectations from the outside anymore," she said after setting up a Saturday showdown against American Amanda Anisimova.

"Every year I guess it's kind of the same but I feel sometimes I can handle it better or ignore it. Sometimes a bit worse.

"I don't know. Like, honestly, I think it's easier if you haven't won Roland Garros and also if you had more time to practice.

"If I win Roland Garros and then I come here and everybody ask me already about... They put, like, super high expectations."

Five-times Grand Slam winner Swiatek was in a league of her own on a scorching Centre Court on Thursday, blitzing past Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic in the blink of an eye.

She has dropped only one set in her run to the final and suddenly looks at home on grass, a surface she has previously struggled to master.

"Every point is different and every match I need to adjust my game but for sure I feel like I improved my movement," she said, summing up what had changed for her on the surface. "I’m serving really well and I feel really confident, so I’m just going for it and it’s working so I will keep doing that."