Every word from Arne Slot as Liverpool boss responds to Mohamed Salah comments

8 hours ago 4

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot broke his silence on Mohamed Salah's damning comments when speaking to the media ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash against Inter Milan.

Salah was an unused substitute during Liverpool's 3-3 draw against Leeds United on Saturday, the third game in a row Slot benched him. After the game, he told reporters that Liverpool had "thrown him under the bus," while insisting that he no longer had a relationship with Slot.

Liverpool trained on Monday before heading to Milan, and Salah was informed that he wouldn't be involved in the squad, with the situation to be addressed upon the team's return to England. Here is every word Slot said regarding the Salah situation.

Do you think Salah was referring to you with comments last weekend about "being thrown under the bus"?

"The only one who can answer that question is Mo himself. I can guess, but I don't think that's the right thing to do in this moment of time. It's hard for me to tell who he means in that situation, to be honest."

Have you spoken with Salah?

"We've let him know that he's not travelling with us [to Milan], so that was the only communication there has been there from us to him. Of course, before Saturday the two of us have spoken a lot. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter."

Do you feel that the "relationship has broken down"?

"No, that's not the way I feel. But he has the right to feel how he feels things. I haven't felt that at all until Saturday evening for sure, because I think when I didn't play him anymore, usually players don't like the manager then that much. But he was very respectful to my staff members, to his teammates and he trained really hard.

"So, to an extent it was a surprise to me when I heard after the game that he gave the comments he gave. But, as I said, it's not the first and not the last time that when a player doesn't play, I'm not sure if he was emotional or not, but that he says something similar to what he did. But I think our, my reaction to that is also clear and that's that he's not here with us tonight."

Will Salah be considered for selection on Saturday against Brighton, and "what will it take to resolve the situation long term"?

"We are sitting here on an evening before a big game, a big fixture for us, Inter Milan. There was only now maybe 36 hours between the moment we have conceded the 3-3 against Leeds and the moment I'm sitting here. I think you can understand as well that I've tried to prepare my team in the best possible way for the game tomorrow evening.

"The most thoughts that I had are about tomorrow and, in the meantime, we've decided what I've just said - not to take him with us to this game. After tomorrow we will look at the situation again.:

Do you see a scenario where Salah returns to the team?

"I'm a firm believer that there's always a possibility to return for a player. So, I can leave it with that, I think."

Salah's reaction after their conversation today

"A short one."

What prompted you to name Salah on the bench in recent games?

"I think we as a team struggled this season and already last season more and more with the game plans other teams had against us. So, I'm not only talking about the long-ball style, which is something teams mainly do against us now. I've tried to come up with solutions because that is my job, and we've tried many things. We looked very vulnerable, in my opinion, after all the things I've tried, against Forest 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 one more time against Sunderland, where at half-time I brought him in. And against Leeds we faced a 5-3-2, where I've decided to play a 4-4-2 diamond if you want to look at it like this, with Hugo Ekitike a bit off the right side and Cody Gakpo a bit off the left, with Florian Wirtz in between. I could have played Mo as well off the right instead of Hugo, but I decided to play Hugo."

Has Salah played his last game for Liverpool?

"I have no clue, I cannot answer that question at this moment of time."

Do you feel your authority has been "undermined"?

"I don't feel my authority is undermined, is that the way you say it? It's not the way I feel it."

Is the situation making "life more difficult" during a challenging run?

"If that was even possible. 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 [about] if it's more difficult for the team and for the club. And I think no-one likes us to be in the situation we are in at the moment."

"First of all, it's difficult to see staff members that work so hard on a daily basis affected by the situation we are in now as well, mainly because of the results, second of all about what this has done as well. That's not a good thing for us as a team, and that is where mostly my thoughts go to, not towards me. OK, because I'm the manager I have to pick a team so to a certain extent I'm important in this situation as well, but the focus that I have at the moment is completely on the team and not on me at all."

Do you understand the frustration and why Salah "would say such things"?

"Then I should know what he exactly means with it, and that is difficult for me to know what he exactly means with it - and why he says this and who he's referring to."

Have you had a conversation on what "he meant by his words"?

"No. Not what he meant with those words, no. I think usually I'm calm and polite but that doesn't mean I'm weak, so if a player has these comments about so many things then it's about me, us as a club to react and we reacted in a way you can see now, that he's not here."

Do you feel you "could have done anything differently" to have avoided the situation?

"Then I should find out exactly why he said what he said. But then I have to guess a little bit if that's not only because he doesn't play, then the answer to your question could be just play him every single time - but maybe that's not the reason why he said what he said.

"Maybe there is something else why he has this opinion. But that I don't know. Is it about me not playing him? Then the answer could be what could I have done differently? Playing him. Maybe that's not the reason why he thinks and feels this way - and he has every right to feel what he feels, but he doesn't have the right to share it with the media... he has that right but it's up to us to react on it."

When was the last time you spoke to Salah and are you "on speaking terms"?

"Yes, we were. But it doesn't mean we were always agreeing on things. I spoke to him twice in the week in the two days before Leeds."

Have you spoken to Salah since Leeds?

"No. I already said that a few times. He was on the training ground today and I told him that he didn't travel, but that's not speaking to someone, in my opinion. It is speaking to someone, but it is not having a conversation in a room. I had that twice in the lead-up towards Leeds, one a little bit longer and one a bit shorter, but I am not going to go into the details if that is going to be the next question."