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Arne Slot has admitted he is finding the ongoing Mohamed Salah saga particularly tiresome and claimed he is trying to avoid a media “circus” from derailing Liverpool’s performances and results.
The Dutchman was bombarded with questions about Salah during Friday’s press conference ahead of the Premier League encounter against Brighton & Hove Albion. Slot did well to swot them away, even joking that it was pointless for the assembled reporters to ask follow-ups. He is looking to downplay a sensational drama that has dominated the Liverpool agenda for nearly a week.
Slot and the club will look to draw a line under it after the Brighton game, especially following news on Friday that Salah will be involved for the Reds after productive talks were held at the AXA Training Centre.
In what has been a challenging season for all those connected to Liverpool, Slot clearly feels frustrated that he has been forced to confront a fresh and unnecessary problem this week.
“The biggest factor is [to] do the best for the team and for the club,” the former Feyenoord boss explained. “I haven’t said this before but I can say I am definitely not enjoying this situation. It’s not like I’m happy we are in this situation by far.
“We have won the league together and he [Salah] has done so much for the club. Ideally, you are not in a situation like this with your player.
“But I have to make my line-ups doing what is best for the club and for the team, in my opinion.
“I would definitely prefer to [avoid a circus against Brighton] because I don’t think it’s in the interests of the team and the club that we keep having,” he added.
“And I don’t think it’s a circus for me, but if it is a circus that is not helpful for anyone. Everything I have done until now is doing what is in the best interest of the club and the team and I don’t think if I tell you what I felt or blah blah that it will help us in the situation.
“I can completely understand why you ask as it is interesting to know but what I’ve tried to do since I’ve been here and for this whole situation is doing what is best for the team and the club in this situation as it is already challenging enough for us without this situation.”
Slot has cut a composed and unshakable figure in the days since that interview, making the tough call to drop Salah against Inter Milan, recall him to face Brighton, and repeatedly deal with pointed questions about the subject.
Most feel he has emerged from the situation with his reputation enhanced and with greater authority. Slot emphasized that before the midweek win in Milan, telling journalists in a press conference that he is “kind, not weak”.
"What I meant was I am not afraid to take decisions that I think I have to take,” Slot said when asked about those comments. “Can players sense weakness? Yes. But you don’t have to show strength or weakness when it doesn’t help the team.
“It would not be smart to be like: 'Oh, I am so strong and I am not afraid to take big decisions’, if that doesn’t help the team.
“It is not my idea to show I can take, even if it was a strong decision or a hard or difficult one, but definitely I have been in dressing rooms and they are constantly checking the decisions you make.
“And I have to make 40-50 a day I think, if not more. But players, like pundits and journalists, hardly ever know everything that happens and I have heard a lot about this whole situation.”
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