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Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has praised Arne Slot for his handling of the difficult situation caused by Mohamed Salah recently — with the ex-Reds midfielder insistent they can still go on to win the Premier League title this season.
Salah accused Liverpool of "throwing him under the bus" during an explosive interview following the 3-3 draw with Leeds United. But a week later, things had been smoothed over enough for him to impress during the Anfield victory against Brighton. Now away for a spell with his national team, Salah will have a cooling-off period ahead of the remainder of the campaign.
"I sympathise with the manager," Souness tells Liverpool.com. "He's got a team there that won the league last year, and deservedly so.
"This year, they're losing too many games already. So, he has a choice to make. The first thing you must do is make yourselves more difficult to play against.
"They have got to stop conceding goals and they are too easy to play against. People are getting through them too easily."
Souness is absolutely clear about his thoughts on the Salah situation specifically, with no punches pulled in his verdict.
"Mo, in his seven years at that football club, has been allowed to not do the hard yards when you're running back to your own goal without the ball," Souness says. "He's been allowed to do that simply because he gave you so much going the opposite direction by creating goals and chances for his teammates and scoring lots of goals.
"But when that's not happening. He has become a bit of a liability. That's the reality of it. The manager is trying to come up with a system where the first thing you have to do when you're in a bad period is make yourselves hard to beat. That's what he's tried to do by leaving him out, and he's deservedly been left out.
"I saw him in the Community Shield, first game against Crystal Palace at Wembley — he just wasn't at it. I was cutting him some slack because some players get fit quickly in pre-season, and others need three, four, five, six games. But he's never got going this year, and he must be honest with himself. He is not the same player.
"I saw a quote somewhere that you wouldn't have got Kenny Dalglish complaining like that. Kenny did get left out by Joe Fagan and Kenny did not complain. He was an angry head; he wasn't good to be around, and I took most of his boiling head.
"But he didn't complain. He just thought, ‘I've got to try harder; I've got to get myself back in the team’. It was a time when he was coming back from having his face smashed against Manchester United, and Joe Fagan left him out a couple of times. He wasn't happy, but he didn't go screaming to the newspapers, feeling sorry for himself, saying the club owes me.
"The club owes you nothing. For him to come out and say, ‘I don't have to fight every day in training for my place because of what I've done for this club’, and then follow up with, ‘No one's bigger than the club’ — he's acting like he's bigger than the club.
"Someone needs to tell him he's not and he never will be. No player will ever be bigger than that football club. It's an institution.
"The manager has been great in the way he's dealt with it. He didn't really have an option. But I don't believe this situation has been resolved because Salah said another thing — he said he got some promises before he signed his new contract.
"What promises? That every month the money will be in his bank account? Other than that, I can't see what other promises any player could hope for from a football club.
"You can't promise a player you're going to be in the starting 11 every week simply because form comes into it. I'm sorry, but I'm with the manager on this."
When Salah returns from AFCON, it will be interesting to see how Liverpool has played in the meantime. This weekend, Alexander Isak could line up alongside Hugo Ekitike, with Florian Wirtz in behind — a new-look attack.
If that clicks, Salah might find that he has to fight even harder to earn his place in the team when he comes back. And with games at Anfield against Wolves and Leeds coming up, Slot should be eyeing the chance to swiftly climb the standings.
"I look at Arsenal— they had 70 per cent of the ball the other night against Wolves, who look as if they're already relegated, and they won the game by two own goals," Souness, speaking on behalf of Sky Bet, says.
"They had 70 per cent of the ball, their goalkeeper made two saves. Creation's a big deal for them.
"So, as a Liverpool supporter, you're thinking, ‘Could Arsenal fall off the perch? Could they have a bad patch?’. You're also hoping that [Erling] Haaland gets injured. Do they [Manchester City] score goals for fun after that? Maybe not.
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"Liverpool are 10 points behind Arsenal right now, that's three games — but it looks like Liverpool are going to have to win every game. They've got to qualify for the Champions League, worst-case scenario, but they won't have given up on winning the league and they shouldn’t.
"The crowd is there; the crowd will support them and get behind them. The perfect scenario — I was thinking about a month ago, City played Bournemouth and I was watching the game.
"The camera panned to the Manchester City bench and it was about 10 players, some of them not subs, all on that bench. But every single one of them would be getting in every starting line-up in every other Premier League team. So, the strength in numbers they have is phenomenal.
"I'm not wishing Haaland ill at all because he's their go-to man. But if he were to get a hamstring and be out for six, eight weeks, what impact would that have on City? Because you just can't stop him. As much as you try, you're not going to stop him."
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