Liverpool attacker told he 'can't buy a goal' after 2-1 FA Cup defeat against Brighton

Don Hutchinson feels Mohamed Salah has been far from his best this season after Liverpool's disappointing 2-1 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup.

The Reds took an early lead through Harvey Elliott, but goals from Lewis Dunk and Kaoru Mitoma saw the Seagulls turn the game around to secure a well-deserved 2-1 victory at the Amex Stadium.

Speaking to ESPN FC, as cited by the Liverpool Echo, Hutchinson said Salah isn't playing as well as he did in previous seasons and also claimed that Jurgen Klopp can take away a few positives from the game despite the result.

"When you look at the first goal big deflection, I think Liverpool were better today, Jurgen Klopp can take aspects from the game he'll be happy with.

"The scoreline is the scoreline, they scored a great goal at the end but this is a Brighton side that's scored eight goals against Liverpool, a team on the up, the confidence is there, there's a thing in football that you can never measure a team's confidence.

"You see Mo Salah going through a couple of times, last season (or) season's before, he takes one or if not both of those chances but now he can't buy a goal."

ANFIELD WATCH VERDICT

Salah has struggled since the Premier League resumed after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but so has the rest of the Liverpool squad. The Reds have somehow got worse since the turn of the year and run the risk of missing out on a place in the UEFA Champions League next season.

While a return of 17 goals and six assists across 30 appearances in all competitions doesn't make for bad reading, everyone can agree that Salah has looked a bit off-colour in recent weeks. However, the Egyptian always steps up when Liverpool need him most, so it would be foolish to write him off.