Is Egypt's superstar Mohamed Salah in need of more confidence? The question has been asked constantly this season as Salah is finding it a bit difficult to replicate last season's form in terms of performance and stats. This week Salah and Liverpool faced Chelsea twice, first in the Carabao Cup at home in Anfield and then away from home in the league at Stamford Bridge. Salah did not start the first game as Jurgen Klopp decided to rest most of his players for the vital league game four days later. In the first clash, Salah came on in the 86th minute after Eden Hazard goal gave the lead to the visitors who came from behind to score in the 79th minute and 85th minute. Understandably, Salah didn't have any time to influence the game and Liverpool lost their first game of the season after recording seven consecutive wins in all competitions, six in the league and one in the Champions League. The league game was destined to be a great match given that both teams are enjoying an unbelievable start to the season. Chelsea surely gained the confidence needed to win the game after inflicting the first loss of the season on Liverpool on their home ground while Liverpool certainly wanted to avoid a second loss in the same week to one of their main rivals alongside Manchester City. Liverpool and Salah both started the game well and the Egyptian twice found himself in great position on the edge of the box but failed to find the back of the net. His first attempt went straight down the middle and Kepa collected with ease while the second saw our goal machine mishit as the ball went high in the stands much to the dismay of Salah himself. Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino all looked fresh and in the mood in the opening 15 minutes of the game but then Chelsea started to see more of the ball until their superstar Hazard broke the deadlock in the 25th minute with a powerful shot that went into the far corner from inside the box thanks to an extremely impressive build-up by the hosts. Liverpool tried to get back into the game in the first half but they were wasteful in the final third and could not really test Kepa. The second half again started well for Liverpool and Salah as they seemed determined to equalise as soon as possible but they kept missing chance after chance with Chelsea missing some glorious opportunities themselves on their counterattacks thanks to a great save from Alisson and last-ditch defending from Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez. As Salah started to drift out of the game, Klopp decided to replace him with Xherdan Shaqiri in the 66th minute, much to the surprise of Liverpool fans in the stadium as Salah was having a good game overall apart from the last few minutes. However, you can excuse Klopp for substituting Salah as the Egyptian seems a little bit short of confidence in front of goal at the moment while Shaqiri was very impressive in his last two games. But the 80th minute saw Shaqiri miss the easiest chance of the game as Andrew Robertson found him with a glorious pass inside the box but the Swiss international mishit it despite only having Kepa to beat. It seemed as if Liverpool were heading for their first league defeat of the season until another substitute found the back of the net in the last minute of the game with a goal of the season contender. Daniel Sturridge was the man as he scored an absolute screamer from 25 yards out only three minutes after coming on. As soon as Sturridge scored, Klopp turned to his bench and hugged Salah as if he was the one who scored the goal and as if he wanted to tell him sorry for substituting him very early. The draw meant Liverpool and Manchester City are tied atop the table with 19 points each from seven games although Pep Guardiola's City lead on a goal differential of six. Fittingly, Man City and Liverpool face off next week at Anfield in a mouthwatering clash that will mean the world to the winner from the psychological aspect. Salah obviously is short in confidence even though his stats aren't much worse than last season at the same stage. However, his overall body language shows there is something wrong with him and that he's not enjoying himself like last season. Is it because the opponents know him better now? Is it because of his off-field issues with the Egyptian federation? Is it because he feels the pressure of being labelled as a one-season wonder? There are plenty of questions and reasons but it is hoped Salah will get past this and get back to his best very soon. Next up for Liverpool is Napoli away from home in another game that should be exciting before they welcome league leaders Man City next Sunday at Anfield. It's still unclear if Salah will start against Napoli. Klopp might want to rest him ahead of City's game but might also think about starting him to give him another chance to score and gain some much needed confidence.
