Is this the end of an era?
After eight and a bit years, Mohammed Salah‘s (£14.0m) Liverpool future is up in the air.
Three successive benchings were followed by a public outburst from the Egyptian on Saturday, raising questions about how player and manager can mend their rocky relationship and move forward.
Like Chief Wiggum gets sucked into the hot dog rollerit may get worse before it gets better.
Salah was left out of Liverpool’s squad against Inter Milan on Tuesday. It leaves his participation in the Gameweek 16 match with Brighton and Hove Albion up in the air; he will then leave for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Monday was Arne Slot’s first chance to respond to Salah’s outspokenness after Leeds.
Here’s everything he said about the Egyptian during his pre-Champions League press conference…
Q: Do you think he was talking about you when he talked about being thrown under the bus?
Slot: “The only one who can answer that question is Mo himself. So I can guess, but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do at this point. It’s hard for me to say who he means in that situation, to be honest.”
Q: Have you spoken to him and what do you think of what he had to say in general?
Slot: “We let him know that he is not traveling with us. So that was the only conversation that took place between us and him. Of course we talked a lot before Saturday; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.”
Q: Do you feel like your relationship with him has broken down?
Slot: “No, that’s not how I feel, but he has the right to feel how he feels things. I certainly didn’t feel that at all until Saturday night because I think when I didn’t play against him anymore, players usually don’t like the manager that much, but he was very respectful to my staff and his teammates, and he trained very hard.”
“So to some extent it was a surprise to me when I heard after the game that he gave the comments that he gave. But like I said, it’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time that when a player doesn’t play – I’m not sure if he was emotional or not – he says something similar to what he did. But I think our, my reaction to that is also clear, which is that he’s not here with us tonight.”
Q. Will he be eligible for selection against Brighton next weekend and what will be needed to resolve this situation in the long term?
Slot“I think we are sitting here one evening before a big match, a big match for us, Inter Milan, and it has only been maybe 36 hours between the time we conceded the 3-3 against Leeds and the time I am sitting here now. I think you can also understand that I have tried to prepare my team as best I can for tomorrow night’s match.”
“So most of the thoughts I had were about tomorrow, and in the meantime we decided what I just said: not to take him to this match. After tomorrow we will reassess the situation.”
Q. Do you see a scenario where Salah returns to the team?
Slot: “I am convinced that there is always a possibility for a player to return, so yes, I can leave it at that, I think.”
Question: What was his reaction in the conversation you had today?
Slot: “[laughs] A short one.”
Q. Why has he been benched for the last three games? What prompted that change?
Slot“I think that we as a team had increasing difficulty this season and last season with the game plans that other teams had against us. I’m not just talking about the long ball style, something that teams are now mainly doing against us.”
“So I tried to come up with solutions, because this is my job. And we tried a lot of things and we seemed very vulnerable in my opinion, after all the things I tried against Vorst and against PSV. Then I decided to play with an extra midfielder in the game against West Ham, where we won the game. So I decided to do it again against Sunderland, where I brought him on at half-time.”
“And against Leeds we faced a 5-3-2, where I decided to play a 4-4-2 diamond, if you want to look at it that way, with Hugo Ekitike a bit on the right, and Cody Gakpo a bit on the left, with Florian Wirrtz in between. I could also have played Mo on the right, instead of Hugo, but I decided to play against Hugo.”
Q. Hand on heart, do you think he has played his last game for Liverpool?
Slot: “I have no idea. I can’t answer that question right now.”
Q. Do you feel like your authority has been undermined? Do you feel abandoned?
Slot: “I don’t feel like my authority is being undermined. I don’t feel that way.
“If that were even possible [to make life more difficult]but it’s not about me. If my life is difficult, yes or no, that’s not very important in a situation like this. It is when it is more difficult for the team and for the club. And I don’t think anyone likes us being in the situation we’re in right now.
“First of all, it is difficult to see that employees who work so hard every day are also affected by the situation we are in now, especially because of the results, and secondly also by what this has resulted in. So that is not a good thing for us as a team. And this is where I am most, where my thoughts go, not to me.”
“Because I am the manager, I have to choose a team, so to a certain extent I am also important in this situation, but the focus I have at the moment is completely on the team and not on me at all.”
Q: When Mo said he felt like he was being thrown under the bus, do you understand that frustration and why he said things like that?
Slot: “Then I would have to know exactly what he means by it, and it is difficult for me to know what exactly he means by it and why he says this, and who he is referring to.
Q. So you didn’t have that conversation?
Slot: “No. No, not what he meant by those words. Usually I’m calm and polite, but that doesn’t mean I’m weak. So when a player comments on so many things, it’s about me, us as a club, reacting, and we reacted in a way that you can see now: that he’s not there.”
Q. Do you think you could have done anything differently to prevent this?
Slot: “Then I’d have to find out exactly why he said what he said. But then I have to guess a bit, if it’s not just because he’s not playing, then the answer to your question might be: just play him every time. But maybe that’s not why he said what he said. Maybe there’s something else why he has this opinion, but I don’t know.”
“Is it about me not playing him? Yes, the answer might be: what else could I do – play him? But maybe that’s not the reason why he thinks and feels that way.”
“And he has every right to feel what he feels, but he has no right to share it with the media. He has that right, but then it’s up to us to respond to it.”
Q: When was the last time you spoke to Salah? Are you on speaking terms?
Slot: “Yes, we were [on speaking terms]. It doesn’t mean we always agreed on things, but I spoke to him twice a week in the two days before Leeds.
Q: Have you spoken to him since Leeds?
Slot: “No. I’ve said that a few times. Yes, he was at the training ground today and I told him he hadn’t travelled. But I don’t think that’s talking to someone. Yes, that’s talking to someone, but it’s not having a conversation in your room, but I’ve had that twice in the run-up to Leeds, one a little longer and one a little shorter. But I’m not going to go into the details if that’s the next question.”
Question: To clarify, you meant you talked to him in the group when he was there during training?
Slot: “Yes, I communicated to him that he was not traveling.”
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