Ally McCoist has labelled Mohamed Salah’s display against Manchester City as “sad” following Liverpool’s humiliation in the FA Cup quarter-final. Nearly a fortnight after revealing he was leaving Anfield, Salah started against Pep Guardiola’s side at the Etihad.

With less than a dozen matches remaining in his Liverpool career, many expected he would deliver a standout performance. Yet in front of goal, he appeared every bit as hesitant as he had been prior to his announcement. He dithered and slashed at an attempt when clean through in the first half, before seeing a feeble toe-poke pushed away by James Trafford.

With Liverpool trailing 4-0 after Erling Haaland netted a hat-trick and Antoine Semenyo added a stunning finish, Salah was handed an opportunity from twelve yards.

The Egyptian’s spot-kick was woefully lacking in both precision and power, with Trafford diving the correct way to comfortably keep it out. After the England international convincingly denied the former Chelsea forward a consolation goal, McCoist admitted he was left feeling deeply uncomfortable.

Speaking on TNT Sports, he said: “I didn’t fancy him. I didn’t fancy him at all. It’s a shame because he looks a shadow of the man that has lit up this league and lit up this country.

“It’s a shame he’s going out this way. He doesn’t look like a confident man or a confident player at this moment in time.” Last season, Salah was awarded a new Liverpool contract after netting 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 Premier League appearances.

He has not been remotely as prolific in what will be his final season at the club. Salah has 10 goals and nine assists in all competitions, which falls short of his typical standards.

His campaign was also marred by a bitter public dispute with Liverpool boss Arne Slot, which took place just before the Africa Cup of Nations commenced. Before the fixture against City, Slot acknowledged he has no regrets about any of his decisions leading up to that disagreement.

He said: “Yes. I look back at this season thinking that I made a few decisions that could have been better but I’m not talking about this specific thing with Mo. I don’t regret many things I did during a little longer than one-and-a-half years together.

“Again, the assumption that if he’s not playing that he wants to leave – that’s the assumption being made – then he would have left one-and-a-half years ago. I can remember West Ham away when he wasn’t playing.

“I wasn’t there. He didn’t decide to leave (Salah had a fallout with Jurgen Klopp ). The assumption is if you don’t play these games and all of a sudden want to leave, it is an assumption and maybe it is true or maybe it isn’t.

“But history has shown that he did not do that previously and had a great season after that.”