As long as Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah have been playing together at Liverpool, they've been grouped together as 'the front three', renowned for their slick interplay and ability to cause opposition defences havoc in a way which makes them even more effective than the sum of their exceptional individual parts.

They are each bona fide world class forwards with their own very distinct skillsets which complement one another, but while there are plenty of examples where they've been devastating as a cohesive unit, the reality is that they're rarely all in peak form at the same time over the course of any given season.

In 2017/18, for instance, Mané endured his toughest period in a Liverpool shirt between December and February and was devoid of confidence, but it was compensated for by the fact that Salah and Firmino were enjoying by far the best goalscoring seasons of their respective careers.

Last season, when Salah's goals dried up between February and March, Mané took up the mantle and raised his game to a whole new level, while earlier this season, both his and Salah's goals (as well as those from elsewhere in the squad) meant that Firmino was able to go on a barren run of just one goal in 16 games in all competitions without it really damaging the team.

However, the past few weeks has seen all three players struggling for form simultaneously, which has arguably never happened before.

There have been occasions when two of them haven't been at their best, but the other would be able to carry the load and take on extra responsibility in the goalscoring department. Right now, that just isn't happening.

As a collective, the team is experiencing its first real sustained run of poor form all season, so there are deeper systematic issues which go beyond the performances of any individuals, but nonetheless, it's difficult to overlook the struggles of the front three, which has exacerbated Liverpool's uncharacteristic bluntness as an attacking force, resulting in three successive away games without scoring.

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Firmino is currently on a run of eight appearances (six starts) without scoring, while Mané has two in his last eight (seven starts), and Salah with just one in his last five (four starts), which is obviously well below their usual levels.

They've not been creating many chances either, and several teams have successfully been able to keep them on the periphery of the action by either letting them have the ball in areas where they can't cause damage, or by stopping the supply line from midfield or the full-backs.

As worrying as the recent results and performances have been, the age-old adage about the temporary nature of form and permanency of class does still apply, and it would be no surprise if one of them suddenly springs back into form and embarks on a purple patch in the next run of games.

With Bournemouth at the weekend and the second leg of the Champions League last 16 against Atletico Madrid next week, Liverpool could seriously do with them regaining their mojo as soon as possible. 

Liverpool.com