We’ve had a bad season and he’s had a bad season. He also had that interview and has announced his departure, so it hasn’t been a normal season from different angles. More media attention on him is normal. I’ve seen a lot of plaudits for him recently, as is normal, he will grow even bigger with time.
I don’t see this post as something very courageous. He’s giving his opinion, there are many things behind the scenes which we don’t know what went or goes on and in a few days we will say goodbye to each other and he will start a new chapter.
Mo Salah says what the majority of supporters are thinking. He gets plaudits in some quarters and criticism in others.
For me, he is correct. In timing, in content, in everything. He was scapegoated by the manager earlier in the season, and yes his form did take a dive. But he is a Liverpool legend and entitled to his opinion. He’s not a slave to his employers, and they got as much ftom him as they gave over his career at the club.
I can see his frustration, and charitably I want to say he is raging against the dying of the light. But I argue with whoever it was said (sorry I forget who) that Mo Salah surely cannot believe he is still capable of playing ‘heavy metal football’. Does he really think Liverpool should have been playing aggressive, pressing, high energy football this year? Cos unless Mo also is expecting other players to do his running for him, he isn’t getting in that team.
As for being scapegoated, this means obviously you can’t drop Mo Salah, no matter how badly he is stinking the place out. Just before he was dropped, his wretched form was a topic of conversation, and Slot was being criticised for persisting in playing him.
Mo is right that the club needs to return to the tenacious, attacking threat that defined the Klopp era. Mo can’t play that way anymore, but that doesn’t mean that others cannot. And as I said in another thread, this is significantly different than the comments he made in December, which were all about himself and his relationship with the club. I don’t see it as anything to get upset about.
Rooney has to be insane to think that Slot will drop Mo for the last match of his Liverpool career. If Slot does that, the supporters will mutiny.
Really? Is that what was happening when he was banging them in with not nearly as much running as he used to do in the title win last season? The other forwards indeed did the running for him. He more than pulled his weight in goals and assists.
For someone who tries to stay at an even keel, you seem to have a rather low bar when it comes to letting Salah have it with both barrels.
His output last season was at a level where having others do his hard work was justified. But as I said during his last public outburst, when he was dropped from the team, if Mo’s argument was ‘let me off doing the graft because when you get me the ball I’ll deliver’ if he stops delivering, then the team has a problem.
I’m hardly giving him both barrels, and I’ve long been at peace that Mo’s tendency to have a tantrum is part and parcel of the amazing level he’s traditionally had - you don’t get one without the other. But it isn’t pleasant to see his rage against the dying of the light being played out so publicly and without any trace of self awareness.
Its also a term that comes from his time at Dortmund. I dont know if he spoke about it before, but it was a comment at least popularized when they got drawn against Arsenal in the CL and he drew the contrast between what he wanted to see from any football he’s associated with vs the more orchestral football Arsenal played.
The specifics of how we set his team up to play changed over the 10 years from that time, but that overall principal never did.
You know very well that Slot’s refusal to drop Mac Allister and Gakpo has been one of my biggest criticisms of him.
But the fact remains that Salah has been excused the workload others have to shoulder on the basis that he delivers output. Well, fine until the output disappears. All that means is that we are carrying a player for no reason.
Go back to the time of Salah being taken out of the team and in the run up to that there was a large body of opinion that he should be dropped. You were certainly part of that as well.
Mo’s not getting any younger and he should be at the stage of his career where his performance levels starts to drop, (and this season its been some drop-off)
but last year he was the player of the year and the golden boot winner for what he did from Aug to late Feb 24/25 before his performance levels dropped,
But I thinks its fair to say the performances levels of the whole team have dropped since late Feb 2025 (apart from a few good performances here and there).
we can say Mo is poor because of his age, but what about the others in the team?
is Macca’s poor performances due to his age?
what about Gravenbach’s form?
Gakpo who was hot and cold in the good times is now so cold he’s frozen solid!
Something clearly isn’t right behind the scenes, for so many players to be so of form
But neither of us pick the team. Slot does, do he gets praised or criticised for it.
And to be fair, I have always been among Mo’s supporters on here. I know his drop off was massive, but I still think some of the criticism he got was over the top.
I’m not too bothered by Rooney sticking his oar in. He’s paid to give opinions. In this instance he is with the 6% of fans polled who back Slot, not the 94% who back Salah.
There can be a situation where supporters recognise that Mo Salah has declined in effectiveness over the season, whilst respecting the legacy he has at the club.
Of course there were calls for him to be benched earlier this season, though I don’t recall being as vociferous as some on those occasions.
As I pointed out earlier, I feel he was scapegoated a bit, as other players were as poor as him in some matches. Of course, the benchmark he set for himself means he was judged at a higher level whilst ignoring his performance still being superior to someone like Cody Gakpo.
We are or should be able to seperate his decline from his actual value to the club. Sunday should be his lap of honour, his day in the sun. But its been blighted with recent events.
He spoke from the heart about standards dropping at the club. He is correct. He trains more than anyone else and as a leader he expects others to do the same. Its pretty obvious that they don’t. He is criticised because he speaks of heavy metal football, because he is
unable to engage himself, he wouldn’t get into a team playing with that pace. Maybe not, but he is correct in wanting that level of performance. Thats surely what we all want.
If he is left out on Sunday, as suggested by that muppet Rooney, then its shame on Slot. For me, that would be the ultimate betrayal of Liverpool supporters. He should start, because he is good enough. Rio and Isak should start because at this moment in time they are our best front three.
Was he right to publicly say what he thinks? If you are passionate and a legend and wanting the best for your club, then you get to do so. SKY pulling stupid polls doesn’t matter. Its not and shouldn’t be Salah vs Slot.
But if Slot isn’t on the same hymm sheet in his ambitions and desires for Liverpool as Mo, then he really isn’t the man for the job.
