Jamie Carragher believes Jurgen Klopp made a huge mistake by playing Mohamed Salah against Benfica before Liverpool’s key Premier League game with Manchester City on Sunday.
Salah delivered another poor display in midweek as Liverpool sealed a 3-1 win over Benfica in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter final.
The Egypt international has now gone over 14 hours without a goal in open play for the Reds and has scored just one goal in his last seven matches in all competitions.
Salah is also facing uncertainty over his future as he is yet to agree a new deal with Liverpool, while his current contract will have just one year left this summer.
Liverpool, meanwhile, will go two points ahead of Man City if they win at the Etihad on Sunday and Carragher believes Klopp should have kept Salah fresh for their key Premier League title-deciding fixture.
Asked about Salah’s recent struggles, Carragher said: ‘It’s not just the goals with Mo Salah, he’s had chances, he always will get chances, but his actual general play has been really poor, it has been over the last four to six weeks since those tournaments [AFCON].
‘You’ve got to think how much it would have taken out of him mentally and physically, the disappointments of losing AFCON, not getting to the World Cup, how many times he’s played extra time for his country.
‘I think it’s a physical thing and a mental thing and he’s got to come out of it really quickly. But I was very surprised he played midweek against Benfica, I really was. I know the Champions League is huge, but I think it was a mistake by Jurgen Klopp to play him, I’d love him to be really fresh here [against Manchester City]. He played the first 60, 70 minutes [against Benfica] and again it wasn’t great, so you’re coming into this game thinking, ‘Mo Salah isn’t at his best, another game where he hasn’t played particularly well and not scored’.
‘I’d have liked him to be a bit more fresher today. Sooner or later he’ll turn up because he is what he is, one of the greatest players in the world.’
Asked if Salah’s contract situation is a concern, Carragher told Sky Sports: ‘Yes it is because he’s a Liverpool legend, he’s been one of the greatest players, not just of this generation, that we’ve ever seen in a Liverpool shirt.
‘So you want to make sure he’s tied down over the next three or four years, there’s just over 12 months left on his contract, it doesn’t look like Liverpool are shifting from their position.
‘I still believe he’ll sign, I think this is the best place for him. I think there’s players in the past who have thought the grass was greener, certainly under Jurgen Klopp, and it hasn’t worked out too well for them.
‘It’s not as if Mo Salah came to Liverpool as a superstar, he became a superstar at Liverpool, and I think Jurgen Klopp and the way his team plays brings out the best in him.
‘I don’t think it would be a sensible move for him if he was to move on.
‘I don’t think Liverpool will up their offer at this moment but I think Mo Salah should be sensible enough, him and his representatives, to understand the situation that he will still be getting an amazing contract.
‘But the football he’s playing now, he’s playing for one of the best managers in the world, for one of the best teams in the world, what he’s done over the past four or five years makes him one of the greatest players to ever wear the Liverpool shirt.
‘I think it would be sad if he was to move on, maybe to a rival in this country, I think he’d lose his legacy at Liverpool, if you look at what happened with Fernando Torres going to Chelsea.
‘I just don’t think it would be great for his career. You actually think where could he go that’s better than Liverpool right now, and I don’t think there is anywhere.’
