Liverpool legend Graeme Souness hits out at performances of Mohamed Salah - and says it's like 'his brother has turned up this season'

Graeme Souness has ripped into Mohamed Salah 's form and criticised his workrate amid Liverpool 's struggles.

The Reds' dire run continued at the weekend when they were beaten 3-0 by Nottingham Forest at Anfield.

That defeat was Liverpool's eighth in their past 11 games in all competitions, while it was the third time in five matches they have lost by a three-goal margin.

Several players are playing below their title-winning form from last season and despite a summer spend of £446million on the likes of Florian Wirtz , Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike, Slot's side look a much worse outfit.

One of those struggling badly is Salah, and after a stunning campaign in 2024-25 where the forward provided 57 goal contributions in 52 games, he has scored just five goals in 17 appearances this time around.

The 33-year-old has been ineffectual in attack, while other teams have also used his perceived defensive weaknesses as a way to get at the Reds.

Graeme Souness has criticised Mohamed Salah's form and also hit out at his workrate

Liverpool are struggling badly at the moment, with the Reds losing eight of their last 11 games

And Souness was unapologetic with his thoughts on Salah when asked by talkSPORT .

'How long have we got?,' he began. ' He's been an absolute superstar. This is the nicest thing I can say about Salah, he's been the go-to man for the last seven years.

'If you're picking an all-time Liverpool eleven, he's one of the first names on the team sheet. I think it's his brother that's turned up this season.'

Souness then went on to pinpoint a warning sign he noticed in Liverpool's defeat by Crystal Palace in the Community Shield in August which suggested something was different with Salah.

'There was a ball, he had his back to the sideline and a ball was played up and it's going towards the left-back in that game against Crystal Palace and he could easily have gone there,' the Liverpool legend added.

'He's not going to win it, he's not a big strong aerial type, but at least he goes and makes life a little bit difficult for the full-back to do what he wants to do with it.

'He made no attempt to make that challenge. I'm thinking, he's never been the bravest, he's never going to get hurt in a 50/50, he's cute as anything and I wouldn't want him to because he's such a genius at the top end.

'But he's shown a lack of appetite and, I'm sorry, hard words sometimes are the kindest words and I think he needs hard words that ultimately are getting him back to being the superstar that he's been for Liverpool, but this season he has not turned up.'

Souness pinpointed a moment in the Community Shield and felt Salah needed 'hard words'

After an incredible 2024-25 campaign, Salah has struggled to replicate that form this season

Meanwhile, Salah's defensive weaknesses have even been highlighted by other teams this season, with Chelsea left back Marc Cucurella saying the Blues targeted Liverpool's right hand side during their 2-1 win last month.

'We tried to attack (on their right side) always because we know that Salah is always ready to attack, to play the counter attack,' he said after the game.

'So we know that, we practice and the manager tells us that the space is maybe there. We saw that in the last minute.'

When pressed on whether that was a weakness of Liverpool's, Cucurella added: 'Y eah, I think they play one style of game that Salah is always ready to attack so we prepare that.

'If we do the crosses [with] maybe a lot of pace on them, so I think we try to make these things on our side and today it worked, and we can win the game in this way.'

The Reds are languishing in 12th in the Premier League after Saturday's defeat and return to action on Wednesday when they host PSV in the Champions League.