Mohamed Salah: Liverpool star’s public attack piles pressure on Arne Slot

Slot has not had to go looking for problems as Liverpool have slumped this season, despite spending almost £450m in the summer.

But the biggest landed when Salah decided to go public with obvious fury at his treatment.

Salah uses his words carefully and strategically. At most matches since arriving at Anfield from Roma in 2017, he has declined requests to talk to waiting reporters.

This only changes at Salah’s behest, like when he stood outside St Mary’s in the teeth of Storm Bert last November after scoring twice in a 3-2 win at Southampton to announce he was “probably more out than in” at Liverpool as contract negotiations were slow to progress.

The impasse was resolved when he signed a two-year deal in April, Salah marking the deal by sitting on a throne in his Liverpool kit at a floodlit Anfield.

It was all a far cry from the rancour that was exposed at Elland Road on Saturday night.

Salah is now more out than in than he has ever been. And if his time at Liverpool ends in such acrimony, it will be a sad farewell.

If Salah’s words are a challenge to Liverpool and Slot, then it is a battle he is far less likely to win than he was at this time last season.

It is understandable that such a proud character would be hurt by being relegated to the bench, such has been his standing at Liverpool.

Salah has won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the EFL Cup at Liverpool, scoring 250 goals. In the Premier League, he has scored 188 goals and had 88 assists.

He is third on Liverpool’s all-time record list of goalscorers, behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt.

This season, however, Salah has started to look his age. It was not the seismic shock it might once have been when Slot dropped him to the bench for the 2-0 win at West Ham United.

Salah’s form this term has offered a stark contrast to last season, when he seemed driven by a personal mission to bring the Premier League title back to Anfield, which he duly did, scoring 34 goals in 50 starts in all competitions.

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