Arne Slot retains support after Mohamed Salah comments, but his credit in the bank is not endless – The Athletic

The uncomfortable questions kept coming in the bowels of San Siro.

There were 16 relating to Mohamed Salah across 10 and a half minutes in a packed press-conference room before the conversation finally turned to Tuesday’s Champions League opponents Inter.

Arne Slot sat there in the eye of the storm that had been created by one of the greatest players in Liverpool’s history. Composed, measured and assertive, the club’s current head coach dealt admirably with everything that came his way.

What an invidious position to find himself in as he faced the media for the first time since Salah’s astonishing outburst following Saturday’s dramatic 3-3 draw with Leeds United at Elland Road.

Slot was already wrestling with the biggest challenge of his managerial career after a dismal run of just four wins in 15 games for England’s reigning champions, but now he has the added headache of a mutinous Anfield legend creating more pressure and scrutiny.

It’s wild to think that just nine days ago, Salah had started every Premier League game of Slot’s 16-month Liverpool reign. It took a week of being relegated to bench duty for the Egyptian’s mood to darken so considerably that he turned to the nuclear option.

“I have no clue,” Slot responded when asked if he thought Salah had already made his final appearance for the club. He also stressed that he was “a firm believer there is always a possibility to return for a player”.

Arne Slot answers questions before Tuesday’s Inter game (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The context of those comments was that Salah had expressed uncertainty over his future at the weekend and Liverpool do not yet know if he will pursue a move during the winter transfer window, which opens in just over three weeks. Senior club figures, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, are adamant they are not looking to offload the 33-year-old forward, who is under contract until the summer of 2027.

The decision to leave Salah out of the squad that travelled to Italy on Monday was taken by sporting director Richard Hughes following consultation with Slot. Michael Edwards, the CEO of football at Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, also had some input.

There’s been no disciplinary action against Salah, and the situation will be reassessed before Saturday’s home Premier League meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion — Liverpool’s final game before he heads to the Africa Cup of Nations.

The implications of leaving Salah on Merseyside meant it was always going to go above the head coach’s pay grade, especially as his attacking options are so limited for the match against Inter, with Cody Gakpo injured and Federico Chiesa ill. But Slot didn’t duck the fact he was in full agreement with the decision.

“We let him know he wasn’t travelling with us,” the Dutchman said.  “That was the only communication from us to him. He has every right to feel what he feels. He has the right to share it with the media, but it’s then up to us to react.

“Usually, I’m calm and I’m polite, but that doesn’t mean I am weak. So if a player has these commands about so many things, then it’s about me and us as a club to react. We reacted in a way you can see — he’s not here.”

Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool is uncertain (Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Slot insisted he was surprised by Salah’s assertion that their relationship had broken down: “That is not the way I feel. I hadn’t felt that at all until Saturday evening. When I didn’t play him anymore, usually players don’t like the manager that much, but he was really respectful to his team-mates and my staff members and trained really hard. Before Saturday, the two of us had spoken a lot; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.”

The former Feyenoord head coach was also unclear over just who Salah was referring to when he talked about being “thrown under the bus”. He said: “The only one who can answer that is Mo himself. I can guess, but I don’t think that is the right thing to do. It’s hard for me to tell who he means.”

Salah’s outburst has divided opinion among the fanbase. Speaking to travelling supporters as they congregated in Milan on Monday, most The Athletic talked to felt he was out of order and had deservedly been dropped following a sequence of underwhelming performances. Many were dismayed by his suggestion that he doesn’t “have to go every day fighting” for his starting spot because he “earned it”.

However, others were more sympathetic, especially those whose patience with Slot is wearing thin as this season’s difficulties continue. They believe Salah has unfairly carried the can for the team’s collective failings.

Asked to explain why Salah had been left out of the line-up for three successive matches, Slot touched upon the tactical reasons.

“We as a team have struggled this, and already last, season more and more with game plans other teams had against us. I am not only talking about the long-ball style that teams mainly do against us now,” he said.

“I have tried to come up with solutions because that is my job, and we have tried many things. We looked very vulnerable after all the things I tried against Nottingham Forest and PSV (both heavy defeats with Salah in the side), so then I decided to play with an extra midfielder against West Ham, where we won. I decided to do it one more time against Sunderland but at half-time, I brought Mo in (for Gakpo, when a match that ended 1-1 was still goalless).

“Against Leeds, we faced a 5-3-2, so I decided to play a 4-4-2 diamond with Hugo Ekitike a bit off the right and Cody Gakpo a bit off the left, with Florian Wirtz in between. I could have played Mo off the right instead of Hugo, but I decided to play Hugo.”

Arne Slot after the 3-3 draw at Leeds on Saturday (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

Slot clearly had no regrets. Perhaps he could have avoided this ugly bust-up by bringing Salah back into the team against either Sunderland or Leeds, but the man’s job is to pick what he believes is the best possible line-up for each assignment, regardless of egos.

“I don’t feel that my authority has been undermined,” Slot said bullishly, before smiling about whether it was “even possible” for Salah’s words to make his life more difficult, given everything else the head coach has on his plate.

Fewer than 200 days earlier, Slot’s name boomed around Anfield as he held the Premier League trophy aloft. Those scenes must now feel like a lifetime ago.

Liverpool are 10th in the Premier League after 15 games. Their hopes of finishing in the Champions League’s top eight, which grants automatic qualification to the round of 16 in March, were dented by that humiliating defeat to PSV a fortnight ago. Inter are third in Serie A and have won four out of their last five matches in Europe.

There’s plenty of sympathy internally for what Slot has contended with in recent months — from the tragic loss of Diogo Jota in July to the succession of injury setbacks and the ongoing attempts to bed in so many new signings at once. Edwards and Hughes remain fully supportive and their stance over Salah’s comments underlines that.

But Slot will know better than anyone that the credit he has in the bank is not endless. For so much of his 2024-25 debut season, it felt like he had the Midas touch as his clever tactical tweaks and substitutions repeatedly turned games Liverpool’s way.

This time around, he has made some costly mistakes, including weakening the midfield by playing Dominik Szoboszlai out of position at right-back, and sticking by Ibrahima Konate in central defence despite a succession of calamitous errors. It was an understatement when Slot admitted at Elland Road that Konate has been “a bit too much on the crime scene” this season.

Slot hasn’t got the best out of club-record signing Alexander Isak, and he hasn’t fixed the shambolic defending from set pieces. Far too often, Liverpool have looked brittle and disjointed.

Yet Alisson, who also took to the news-conference stage in Milan after listening to his manager speak, insists the rest of the dressing room remain firmly behind Slot — despite Salah breaking ranks.

“I don’t believe Mo’s goal was to disrespect anyone,” the Brazilian goalkeeper said. “What we expect is a player who wants to play, who is not comfortable being on the bench. You have the freedom to talk, but you also need to deal with the consequences. It’s not important how we feel as a team, but it is important how we react.

“We are all fully behind Arne. Before he came in, everybody talked about the huge challenge of being Jurgen Klopp’s replacement. It looks like now everyone takes for granted what we achieved last season. It shouldn’t be.

“We believe in his knowledge, we believe in his style of playing, that he can help us turn around this situation. It is not only about ourselves but that’s the situation with the club as well — they trust him. So, it’s not only his responsibility — as a player, I share the responsibility to turn around the situation. We are the ones who can change everything.”