Leicester City vs Liverpool: 5 Talking Points & Tactical Analysis, Premier League 2018/19

#2 Liverpool's counter-attacks were not a threat

Mohamed Salah had one of his worst games in a red shirt

Rightly, Liverpool were called the Red Arrows last season, for their absolutely thrilling ability to destroy teams on the counter-attack with their pace and precision. But all that went wrong in this game.

Liverpool's breaks weren't broken down by brilliant Leicester defending but by their own lack of clear decision-making. The chief culprit in that was Mohamed Salah, who had one of his worst games in a Liverpool shirt.

Salah's struggles started very early in the game when he missed a huge chance to score after Kasper Schmeichel had saved Firmino's shot. With the goal at his mercy, Salah somehow contrived to put the ball wide.

There were several other moments in the game when Liverpool's counter-attacks were broken down by Salah's incorrect decision-making or poor passing.

The most blatant one of them came early in the second half after James Milner had dispossessed Nampalys Mendy in the middle of the park. The Englishman drove forward before giving it to Salah, who had Leicester at his mercy, and enough options to pass the ball to.

Both Firmino and Mane had made runs on the left side, but Salah tried the more difficult reverse pass behind him to Milner and the attack broke down.

On several other occasions, elementary passes were made a mess of and it didn't help that Mane was a little lazy, as he refused to chase some balls that could easily have been retrieved.