12 hours ago
20
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has quickly shut down Ian Wright's theory about Mohamed Salah and Arne Slot, with the Reds manager having handled the situation with his star man well in recent weeks.
Salah's explosive outburst at Leeds saw him miss the Champions League trip to Inter Milan a few days later. But Salah then came off the bench and played well against Brighton last weekend in what was his final appearance for Liverpool before AFCON.
Reacting badly to being named on the bench for three successive games, Salah claimed his relationship with Slot had completely deteriorated and that promises made to him had been broken, but he looked determined to prove a point when he came on for Joe Gomez at Anfield last weekend.
"With Slot, it is almost like a power thing (leaving Salah on the bench at Leeds)," Wright said on The Overlap podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
"I honestly think it was. Why are you not going to bring him on? He was sending a message. 'You are sitting there and I am going to make you sit there'."
"No Wrighty, that's wrong," Carragher replied. "That is only my opinion," Wright said. "He could have easily diffused it and brought him on. We are talking about Mo Salah!"
"It is not about diffusing," Carragher explained. "It is about a manager trying to get three points who is fighting for his life. Liverpool were 2-0 up, you're not going to bring Mo Salah on. You don't need a goal.
"It then goes 2-2, but the guy who is playing in his position scores (Dominik Szoboszlai). So Slot didn't get it wrong. The reason Salah is not playing is because the three games before, Liverpool were conceding a lot of goals.
"He started on the bench against West Ham and I would have played him against Sunderland, but he came on at half-time. After the game, Slot spoke about how strong Liverpool was defensively. He is focusing on defending and clean sheets."
"You are describing a squad player and Salah is never going to accept that. You are going to have a war!" Gary Neville chimed in.
"Bring the war on! The most important thing is the team and the club and getting results. By the way, ever since Mo Salah has been out of the team, Liverpool haven't lost.
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
"Mo Salah hasn't played well. He is one of Liverpool's greatest players but right now, the most important thing is getting the team back. He isn't sending a message to anyone."
Liverpool.com says: Carragher is absolutely right. Liverpool and Slot handled the Salah situation as well as they could. It was the right thing to take him out of the team and the right call to bring him back when they did.
The interesting thing now will be what happens when Salah returns from AFCON. If the Reds play well in the next few weeks, his place will only become even harder to win back.
English (US) ·