This is exactly how he played for the entirety of the first half of last season for us. Could barely control the ball, first touch dreadful, short passes misplaced continuously, easily dispossessed and significantly short on pace losing foot races with players he’d have skinned a season earlier. Salah carried us during this period. Threads galore on both rawk and LFC forums re how his decline had begun if you check.
The upturn came after he was moved centrally by klopp to play a central striking role in the second half of the season, coupled with improved confidence after the africa cup.
It’s only fans of other clubs who don’t watch us regularly who observed him banging in the goals in the latter half of the season who think his decline hadn’t already begun at the start of last season.
He’s nowhere near quick enough to play on the wings now, for example. It means he needs to be played centrally where his speed of thought and decent finishing ability means he can still score a good volume of goals for a team that creates chances, but I expect that will decline too over the next season or two.