Mohamed Salah’s outburst was selfish and disrespectful. He has let Liverpool down – The Athletic
On the previous occasion Mohamed Salah publicly vented his frustration over being relegated to bench duty at Liverpool, he limited himself to seven words.
“If I speak, there will be fire,” he said without breaking stride after a bust-up with Jurgen Klopp on the touchline as he waited to come on against West Ham United at the London Stadium in April 2024.
But when the Egypt forward emerged from the away dressing room at Elland Road on Saturday evening and made a beeline for reporters it was crystal clear that he was in no mood to keep his counsel. This time he stopped and had plenty he wanted to get off his chest. He has never spoken to the UK written media for so long during a Liverpool career spanning more than eight years.
It was premeditated and the fire just kept on coming.
He talked about how he felt he had been “thrown under the bus” by Liverpool, how promises had been broken since he signed a new two-year contract in April, and how he had been made a scapegoat for the champions’ struggles this season.
Without even being asked about Arne Slot, he offered up that his relationship with the Dutchman had completely broken down and revealed that he had asked his parents to attend next Saturday’s visit of Brighton & Hove Albion, admitting it could be his Anfield farewell as “someone doesn’t want me in the club”. He left the door open to a possible January move. It was incendiary.
This was no angry rant. The third-highest goalscorer in the club’s history was calm and composed throughout. “Thank you, guys,” he said at the end of a remarkable seven-and-a-half minutes.
As Salah walked away, he left a towering inferno in his wake.
Mohamed Salah sits on the bench as Arne Slot watches Liverpool labour at Elland Road (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
As if the Premier League champions didn’t have enough problems after a pitiful return of just eight points from the last 30 on offer, there is now a civil war waging between one of the greatest players in the club’s illustrious history and a manager fighting to save his job after an alarming downturn in results.
Salah’s sense of hurt and dissatisfaction is understandable. After a run of 53 successive Premier League starts for Liverpool over 19 months, he has been left out for the past three matches. He did not get on the pitch in the dramatic 3-3 draw against Leeds United having been similarly ignored at West Ham last Sunday, before being afforded 45 minutes off the bench at home against Sunderland in midweek.
His pride has been severely dented and you can see why he feels that he has been unfairly singled out. He is the only player to start the humiliating home defeats to Nottingham Forest and PSV who has been benched since.
Salah must sit and watch the blundering Ibrahima Konate and wonder why he has been treated so differently. The same goes for Cody Gakpo, who has consistently under-performed wide on the left but has bizarrely retained his place.
But that still does not excuse Salah’s decision to go nuclear.
He knows how his words resonate and to unleash them like he did after the demoralising sight of Liverpool throwing away 2-0 and 3-2 leads at Elland Road was selfish and disrespectful. It just heaps more negativity on the club at a difficult time.
Given that he departs for the Africa Cup of Nations next weekend, would it have really been that tough to grin and bear his plight until then rather than air all that dirty linen in public?
Mohamed Salah applauds the away supporters at Elland Road having failed to make it off the bench (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Salah’s comments showed a glaring lack of self-awareness regarding his form this season. “I don’t know why this is happening to me,” he said. “I have done so much for this club. I don’t have to go every day fighting for my position because I earned it.”
No, it doesn’t work like that. You have to keep earning it and the reality is that, when Slot dropped Salah for the game at West Ham, there were few dissenting voices. That’s because he’s been so ineffective — contributing just five goals and three assists in 19 appearances in all competitions.
Far too often he has been on the periphery of matches. He has offered little threat going forward and opponents have repeatedly targeted the space in behind him because he does not track back to help out his right-back defensively.
Salah produced one of the greatest individual campaigns in the history of English football when he scored 34 goals and chipped in with 23 assists last season. He is an Anfield icon having rewritten the record books since arriving from Roma in 2017, but that does not give you a free pass. Certainly not when you earn more than £400,000 per week plus bonuses.
He has lost his way and, at the age of 33, it appears that Father Time has caught up with him.
The upturn in the team’s fortunes has hardly been eye-catching, but the reality is that Liverpool have generally looked better without Salah in the side, winning one and drawing two after a run of three defeats.
The last time Salah spoke to the UK written media was just over a year ago after a win at Southampton when he famously declared he was “more out than in” as he waited for a new contract offer. That outburst was designed to crank up the pressure on Liverpool to speed up negotiations and, ultimately, he got what he wanted.
Mohamed Salah’s only game-time in the last three matches was as a substitute against Sunderland (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
What happens this time around will be intriguing.
Can Fenway Sports Group CEO of football Michael Edwards and Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes broker some kind of peace deal? Will Salah be on Monday’s flight to Milan for the club’s next Champions League assignment or will he be cast aside?
If bridges cannot be built then Salah or Slot will have to leave. Given the owners’ continuing support for the manager, it is hard to see them siding with a player who, in recent months, has looked like such a fading force.
Maybe a move to the Saudi Pro League in January will suit all parties. But how quickly things have unravelled since the title celebrations in the spring.
If this proves to be the end for Salah after 250 goals in 420 games for Liverpool, it’s a sad way to bow out with such acrimony.
