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Where on earth does Liverpool go from here as what has been a dismal season so threatens to well and truly spiral out of control?
Surrendering a comfortable 2-0 to come away from Leeds with just a point would have been enough for Arne Slot to be really feeling the pressure right now, but Mohamed Salah has made sure his head coach definitely doesn’t get away with an easy ride.
There’s no other way of dressing up his extraordinary post-match interview at Elland Road. Salah has effectively given the powers that be at Liverpool an ultimatum - it’s either me or him.
At this point, you’d have to think it’s nigh on impossible that both will remain at Anfield beyond January, so a big decision lies ahead - or maybe even two.
Let’s get a couple of things straight. Liverpool’s form over the last couple of months has been unacceptable, especially for a team that has spent over half a billion dollars after winning the Premier League title.
Slot has had long enough to get a tune out of this team, and find a way to get big names like Salah, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz all into the same team, and yet he still looks no nearer to getting a tune out of his expensively constructed squad. An out-of-form Salah should be the least of his worries.
At the same time, Salah is out of order to be airing his dirty laundry in public. It doesn’t come as a surprise given some of his behavior in the past, but this is a step beyond.
The 33-year-old acted selfishly and only in his own interests, no one else’s. He has been on the bench for three games - there are players, like Federico Chiesa and Andy Robertson, who should feel much more aggrieved with being left out of the side, yet they continue to fight for their spot - something which Salah has seemingly decided he’s too good for.
It simply doesn’t work like that. No one should be guaranteed a place in a team, not even one of the greatest players in the history of the game. If Salah can’t recognize that his form this season isn’t up to standard, then maybe it is time for him to move on.
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Let’s face facts. Salah is only under contract for just another year after this season, and on the evidence of recent months, Liverpool has got the best it can out of him. A move to Saudi Arabia beckons, and it surely makes sense for the club to cash in while it still can.
As for Slot, it’s hard to see a way back now. Like Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, his position has been undermined by one of his own players, and even if the rest of the players don’t feel the same way as Salah, he’s never going to shake the feeling that he’s lost the dressing room.
As much as he can’t be blamed for a sheer moment of madness from Ibrahima Konate at Leeds, Slot’s decisions have become all the more confusing as the season has gone on. More and more, we see him just throwing on all his forwards in games and just hoping that they can produce a moment of magic.
It feels like he’s a man who has run out of ideas, and considering he was brought in for his ability to manage a big club, this season is proving otherwise.
He may well be given more time, but it already feels like the club is delaying the inevitable. Some might see Slot’s departure as a way back in for Salah, but having already thrown his toys out of the pram at the slightest hint of his position being under threat, who’s to say he won’t do it again under another manager?
Salah will go down as a club legend, but the time comes for every player to move on. Liverpool is in need of a reset - that means both he and Slot should go.
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