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Joleon Lescott believes Arne Slot shouldn't drop Mohamed Salah from the Liverpool starting XI. The former Everton defender has taken a different view to Reds legend Jamie Carragher, who has suggested the Egyptian should be left out of the team.
Salah has been a vital player for Liverpool in recent seasons and was rewarded with a two-year contract extension back in April. However, the 33-year-old hasn't hit the heights of his usual standards so far this campaign.
He's managed only two Premier League goals across eight appearances and has netted just once in the Champions League. Salah was particularly below par during the Reds' 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at the weekend, before being dropped to the bench against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.
Growing voices have suggested he should be dropped, with Liverpool icon Carragher reinforcing his view that the Egyptian needs his game time reduced.
But Lescott, who made 143 appearances for the Toffees, takes a contrasting stance.
Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, he said: "I don't think Salah should be dropped. Rested maybe at certain times, yes. But the thing is with him, he's not performing any differently is he? He's just not getting the goals.
"He's not getting the chances. If he starts missing chances, then I can question his form because Salah is for me undoubtedly a match decider. But his performances are pretty much the same."
"He's operating in the same area of the field, he's not asked to do much defensive work because he's so efficient when he gets the ball in the final third in the box. If he's doing that then I've got to look at the team and be like, 'Well, why are we not getting him the ball?'"
Lescott then outlined what Liverpool must do to restore Salah's goalscoring form.
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He added: "Similar to [Erling] Haaland. I think there's been times where he's been so efficient in front of the goal, if we just get him the ball in front of the goal he'll do his job. I think Liverpool need to get that to that."
Milos Kerkez is another player who has experienced a difficult start to this season.
He joined the Reds from Bournemouth during the summer after impressing last campaign, but has yet to meet some expectations.
Lescott believes that Kerkez will need to adapt to the heightened spotlight following his move to Anfield, and must handle the additional pressure.
He continued: "Kerkez had an exceptional season last year but it's a different outfit to have to do that at Liverpool. It's totally different.
"In the greatest respect to him and Bournemouth, he's probably been on TV more this season and scrutinized more than he was the whole of last season.
"So you've got to get used to that, you've gotta know that when you play for teams like Bournemouth, most clubs want you to do well, everyone's ready to praise you, but when you get to Liverpool only Liverpool fans want you to play well.
"There's an expectation and there's people waiting for you to fail in a way. So you have got to get used to the pressure of that and that's what comes with playing in a big club."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.
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