17 hours ago
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Steven Gerrard said that Mohamed Salah was "wrong" to claim that he has been thrown under the bus by Liverpool this season.
Salah's situation at Anfield has dominated the Premier League news agenda for the last four days, after he made a rare stop in the Elland Road mixed zone on Saturday to vent his frustration at being left out of the starting XI in three successive Premier League games.
Among the many inflammatory things he said, Salah claimed he no longer has any relationship with head coach Arne Slot, while he also hinted that he could leave the club in January.
Salah's comments led to him being left out of the traveling squad when Liverpool played Inter Milan on Tuesday night, and the Reds responded in perfect fashion with a 1-0 win over last season's Champions League runner-up.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Gerrard said that he understands Salah's frustration, but clearly feels that the Egyptian went about expressing it in entirely the wrong way.
"He's obviously really upset he's not playing, which I respect," Gerrard said. "He won't sit out of the team, which I respect.
"[There were] a couple of lines about throwing people under the bus – wrong. He needs to reverse a little bit away from that. He needs to deal with that with the manager.
"This needs Virgil van Dijk to say, 'how are we sorting this out for the benefit of...' not even so much the club or the team – it's the fans.
"I've seen this, and I've lived it, with [Luis] Suarez when he fell out with Brendan [Rodgers], face to face. I've seen it all.
"I've been there myself from a personal point of view: I did the [equivalent of the] Salah statement [on the pitch] when I got sent off after 30 seconds against [Manchester] United.
"No one's perfect, we've all had head losses as players, we've all done emotional things. I know in time when it calms down, Mo will go, 'I shouldn't have said that, I maybe shouldn't have said that, I was a bit emotional and I was a bit hasty.'
"At the end of the day, Liverpool need Mo Salah back playing well, back scoring goals, because he is their best player, their best scorer, and he will help them get out of this.
"If this goes on, this is bigger than what we all know and what we see."
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