Arne Slot was not given an easy ride by the Amazon Prime panel when questioned on Mohamed Salah, with fellow Dutchman Clarence Seedorf challenging his approach.
Salah was absent as Liverpool earned a 1-0 win over Inter Milan on Tuesday night, having been left to train alone on Merseyside following his criticism of Slot.
The Egyptian’s interview after the weekend draw at Leeds has dominated the news ever since, and despite the Reds’ win in Italy it was unsurprisingly the focus for Amazon Prime’s panel of pundits.
In his post-match interview, Slot was asked about the impact of Salah’s comments and claimed it “cost maybe a little bit of energy” for the squad.
Slot attempted to shift the focus to the performance of the team he selected on Tuesday night, but Seedorf pressed him on a decision over Salah.
SLOT: “I think tonight it should be all about what we’ve done here, in a stadium like this, against Inter, winning, all the focus should be on that tonight.
“I can fully understand if I go into the press conference again on Friday and all the questions will be about Mo, but I think these players deserve now that we speak about them.”
SEEDORF: “I don’t exactly agree on that.
“We obviously have great respect for you and Mo Salah, we don’t want to be polemic, but it’s also a need to understand because there’s a lot of assumptions made by us as well.
“Do you have the intention to bring him back? It is our view, I would love to see that happen, because everybody makes mistakes in life. Things happen and you always have the spirit.”
SLOT: “OK, you say everyone makes mistakes in life, so the first thing should be: does the player think he’s made a mistake as well?”
SEEDORF: “How are you going to know if you don’t talk with him?”
SLOT: “I haven’t said that I’m not going to talk to him, I just said the focus should be on the players.
“The next question is: should the initiative come from me or from him? That’s another question to answer.
“But as I said, the focus for tonight should be [on these players].”
SEEDORF: “I believe that the team, the club and the coach, when a player is hurt for whatever reason – right, wrong or whatever – should make the first step and open the door for him to then see what is happening.
“This was my comment.”
SLOT: “OK, that’s your opinion!”
While both Slot and Seedorf smiled through their exchange with the respect between the pair clear, the former AC Milan midfielder struck upon a number of key questions for Liverpool’s head coach.
Slot was widely applauded for the manner in which he conducted his pre-Inter press conference on Monday, but it arguably only made the situation more tense.
Seedorf was direct and forthright in his stance: the onus is on Slot to settle any issues with a player within his squad, particularly after Salah claimed “all of a sudden we don’t have any relationship.”
