Is This The End Of Mo Salah At Liverpool?

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1:06Discover the V-Series lineup at Cadillac.com. I think it's incredible that he come out with what he did. If I was one of his teammates, I wouldn't be happy at all with what he said. If any, I need to run Liverpool under the bus. I think Arnie Slott can take the fucking toll of it tomorrow. If I was Arnie Slott tomorrow, there's no way you'd have him anywhere near the team. Wayne, first things first, how are you feeling? Sounds like it's been a bit of a rough week in the Rooney household Yeah, no, a bit better today All week really, one lad's off school all week Me 12 year old had to go in and get surgery on his wrist, he broke his wrist And then I caught it, so yeah, tough week but we got through it Better week for you Kay?

1:53Kae Kurd:Yeah, not bad. It's been busy. I was at a christening yesterday. I've just been with family today as well, so it's just been jam-packed. But yeah, good. Better than Wayne's. Yeah, it sounds like it's been pretty rough. I've been covering the FA Cup this weekend, the second round, not something that Wayne knows much about, to be honest. I don't think you'll have ever played in the FA Cup second round, but it was brilliant. And Wayne, a quick shout-out, because your brother had a big result, didn't he, today? Yeah, they did. Maxfield's 1-3-1. So it's the first time in a long time they've been in the third round.

2:21so interested to see who they get. Hopefully they get a good team and a big tie but no, delighted for them. Yeah, I actually can't believe we've never spoken about this on the show before. Your brother is the manager of Macclesfield, isn't he? Yeah, he is. He's the manager and Frian Jeffers is in there as his coach as well so yeah, they're doing well. Doing well. He got promoted last year obviously under Robbie Savage and my brothers took over and they're in a decent place in the league and then obviously in the third round of FA Clubs so doing really well. Yeah, a couple of cracking goals in that game, which went to extra time against Slough Town.

2:55So congratulations to them. We'll be looking out for what they get in the draw. But the big story this weekend is, of course, coming out of Liverpool. We have to start with this, don't we? Mo Salah's comments after Liverpool's three all-draw at Leeds on Saturday night. If you've missed it, where have you been? Salah told reporters in the mix zone that he'd been thrown under the bus by Liverpool. He doesn't have any relationship with Arnaz Slotts and he doesn't have to fight for his position every day because he's earned it. Of course, I'm picking out parts of what he said there. It was part of a long, explosive interview.

3:24Let's bring in the man now who actually spoke to him in that mix zone, Paul Gorse from the Liverpool Echo. Wow. Firstly, Paul, what an evening for you. Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't busy enough covering the three-all draw, we then get seven and a half minutes with Mohamed Salah, which was one of the most explosive mix zone interviews I think I've ever done. It was really interesting. and obviously normally when a player doesn't kick a ball for the game then they've got no interest in talking but he walked past and I said to him as I do most weeks more have you got two minutes and 99 times out of 100 it's normally just not today and a little bit of a grin and it's a bit of a running joke with myself and the patch because he does it every week but he said to me I'm just going to get a shower and I'll be back and I wasn't sure whether that was being sarcastic because he hadn't played you know it was a bit of a dig at you know why would I need a shower because I've been on the bench but I decided to wait it out and 10 or 15 minutes later he come back and there was maybe half a dozen of us who were there ready to chat to him and it was genuinely extraordinary you know gobsmacking some of the things that he come out with and he's really sort of put the cat amongst the pigeons on this one.

4:33Wayne what did you make of it when you heard the interview and heard the whites? Why? Why would you come out and say that? Listen, I think Mo Salah's been absolutely incredible for Liverpool and as a player, he seems, I don't know him, but he seems really quiet and keeps himself to himself. But I think last year when he was vocal about not signing a new contract or not being offered a new contract, and I think what he'd done, he deserved to get the money he gets for playing for Liverpool. but then you can't go and flip it and say what he said. I think it's just absolutely disrespectful to his teammates, to his manager, to the fans.

5:12I think it's incredible that he come out with what he did. Paul, when he came over to you, obviously, I don't know if people have seen, well, they will have by now, the scenes at the end where Mohamed Salah actually went over to the away fans, didn't he, and really clapped them for a few minutes. Had you seen that happening at the time and thought, hold on, there might be something brewing here? No, no. I think a colleague of mine alerted me to that and then we started to get a little bit of a feeling that maybe he had something to get off his chest I mean this is only the fourth time that he's stopped and spoken to the UK media after a game and he's not obligated to do that but the other two times before last year where he made the promise when he scored 40 goals in his first season that he'd stop and talk so we did that in 2018 the next one after that was when he won the Champions League in 2019 and then the other time before yesterday was at St Mary's just over a year ago when he'd come out and he told us that he was more out than in on account of his contract situation.

6:09So it's very deliberate. He feels that he can use the likes of me as a bit of a vehicle to get a message across and a point out there. And that's absolutely fine by me. If Mo Salah wants to stop and talk to us, perfect. But like I say, it was genuinely extraordinary what he had to say yesterday. And when he used that phrase, you know, I've been thrown under the bus, it was like, wow, this is far more serious than I think any of us expected. You can have the debate around him being dropped and out for three games, and that's just part of being a professional footballer, I guess. I'm not too sure if it happens to you very often, Wayne.

6:47Time catches up with all of us, obviously, when you're playing, and I think this season he hasn't looked at his best, he hasn't looked at his sharpest. I've been quite vocal about that over the last couple of months, and clearly Arnie Slott has seen that, and he's put him on the bench. And what you'd like to think is, you know, he's one of the main players, if not the main player for Liverpool over the last few years. And you want to see him roll the sleeves up and say, okay, then I'll show you. And to have the arrogance to say that, you know, he doesn't have to earn his place because he should play, he's already earned his place.

7:23You need to be at your best every week to try and stay on your team. That's part of being in a team sport. And if I was one of his teammates, I wouldn't be happy at all. with what he said because this is where Liverpool need them most and if anything he's thrown Liverpool under the bus with his words Yeah, Danny Murphy said similar on Match of the Day on Saturday night didn't he really it needs to stay within the four walls of the change room or he needs to go to the owner or to the manager specifically Wayne Yeah, I had it with Mourinho I started the season with Zlatan and I knew Jose only plays one up front normally in the first three or four games he played the two of us and I knew as soon as I had a bad game that I weren't going to play and Zlatan was going to be the forward.

8:05I went in, had an honest conversation with Jose. I asked him, could I go on loan in January because I wanted to play? And he said no. He said he needed me more so for the Europa League. But I could leave in the summer and I stood up, shook his hand, didn't complain about it again, sat on the bench and come on and played a few games, whatever, from Nantalee end of the season. But that was an honest conversation and two men, you know, shaking hands and agreeing on something, which I think is probably the right thing to do rather than doing what Mo Salah's done.

8:36Kae Kurd:I think there's got to be more to it than just he's been dropped for a few games. Because if it is just him being dropped for a few games, it does feel kind of immature. But at the same time, superstar players, a lot of superstar players are immature sometimes. They do kick up a fuss. You see it in this generation all the time with a lot of players when they don't get their own way, they throw their toys out at a pram. But I don't know. something you said that was quite telling was that last year he had a great relationship with a manager, this year he has no relationship whatsoever and I thought that was quite poignant, I was like what does he mean by that, has Slot completely ousted him from the group, what's going on?

9:16I can't say that because I think I've played under three Dutch managers in Van Gaal Koeman and Philipp Kaku and the one thing which they all are is honest and if you're playing well or you're not playing well, they tell you. So maybe he just doesn't like the words which he's heard and comes from the manager, which that's up to him to take the way he takes them. But normally the Dutch managers are very honest with you. So I've met Saini Slott a few times and I think he'd be the same as the other Dutch managers.

9:44Kae Kurd:What it feels like though is he's given the club an ultimatum. He's given the higher-ups an ultimatum where he's gone, it's either you want me or you keep Slott. and I think very rarely if you're doing well does a player win in that situation if the team's doing well yeah and he shouldn't win you know the manager listen I've been running obviously over the years with managers as well and of course you learn from from things but the manager's the one who's you know he's the head of the team and he's putting the team together and he has to make decisions obviously I've been there and done that role and you have to make decisions to some are popular, some are unpopular.

10:24But it's part of... Liverpool have put the trust in Arne Slott. He's won and won the league last season. Now, people say that's with Klopp's players, but you've still got to manage that team. And I thought he'd done it brilliantly last season. And I think the issue for Liverpool is, unfortunately, the big players haven't stepped up for them this season. When you want to be successful, you need your big players to do well. Paul, what have you heard from being around the club in terms of the relationship with Arne Slott and Mo Salah? Had you had any indications beforehand that that might be a problem?

10:55No, not at all. When Arna Slott joined in the summer of 2024, Mo Salah went out of his way to make sure that he was one of the leading lights for him. He decided to not go on international duty for Egypt so he could start and have a full uninterrupted pre-season schedule for him. I think it was maybe day two of pre-season training, the first Arna Slott summer, and Mo Salah's winning the six-minute race that they did in the pre-season tester. I think Sepp Vandenberg had won the previous day and Salah showed up and said, well, I'm going to win this, and he did. It was almost like I'm the example to follow.

11:31The season that followed was absolutely amazing, wasn't it? 29 Premier League goals, I think. Liverpool win the Premier League title by 10 points and Mo Salah wins the Golden Boots. It was absolutely a fantastic performance from him, maybe a career best. That didn't suggest that there were any problems between manager and player. But I think what is disappointing, and I'm very reluctant to criticise Mo Salah because I think what he's done as a Liverpool player has just been unbelievable. The third highest goal scorer in the club's history. But I thought it was quite selfish at a time when the club had really had a bit of a low ebb.

12:09I think you just mentioned it there, when you need your leaders to really get you through it on the pitch. Virgil van Dijk is one of those, and Mo Salah is supposedly. but he's come out and he said this and just a little bit disappointing to hear that you know those are his thoughts at a time when it probably should just be about getting your head down and you know getting Liverpool out of this slump Paul why do you think he's done it do you think

12:30Kae Kurd:he's sort of looking for a way out um to go to Saudi or something or do you think it's it's one of those where he probably doesn't believe that slot's going to be there much longer yeah it could go either way that one k to be honest you know there's been a lot of talk about on a slot's future I think a lot of that is external inside the club there seems to be a lot more calm but you know they've won four games in the last 15 and only two in the Premier League since September so it's a really difficult period this and you know the fear that the Champions League places drift away from them I think that's when a decision you know could be made whenever that comes or if it does but I'm not sure I mean there was interest from Saudi Arabia whether that's still on the table I asked Mo that directly yesterday and he said he didn't want to answer it so does that suggest that it's still there you know you can imagine the Saudi Pro League you know whatever club would come in for him would you know treat him as the jewel in the crown of that league you know the absolute superstar going to football in the Middle East so potentially but I was really surprised that he was almost hinting that this week or next week rather the Brighton game could be his farewell I mean it will be in a sense that he's going to the Africa Cup of Nations but what does his Liverpool career look like on the other side of that?

13:43It's quite difficult to predict now. I think the impact that this will have on the other players as well because Mo Salah, obviously, if you go and sign for Liverpool and you're walking in the dressing room and Mo Salah is obviously in the Zim van Dijk, they're the players you look at and you think, I'm going to be playing alongside these. If Mo's coming out and speaking that way, I can imagine he's going to be very quiet around the same ground and that'll bring in itself a... a negative energy I think to the new players who maybe aren't as better in in the team yeah so for me I think he's either got to speak to the manager and come out and put something out and try and put it right or he's got to leave the football club in my opinion I think it needs to be sorted out quickly from either side really I think

14:32Kae Kurd:do you know what this feels like the end of a dynasty to be fair as well feels like the end of a chapter if Mo Salah goes as well. But I think it feels a little bit like when Ronaldo was doing this at United and he came out and then he'd done that interview with Piers Morgan. And I mean, granted, he wasn't in his second spell, he wasn't as influential as Mo Salah was, but you can't let him continue after that's happened without an apology, can you? No, I doubt it. But obviously he's got enough the protection from next week in the year of being away with Egypt and being away from it. So I think his timing on it, obviously, he's done it for a reason.

15:15It's very premeditated what he's done and he's done it so he can drop it and drop that bombshell and then go away with Egypt next week. And I'm sure, I think that'll actually be a good thing for Liverpool. I think to get them out of the way after what's happened and then actually focusing on new players' time to get them up and running, I think it'll be a good thing. OK, let's bring in a Liverpool fan now and host of the Late Challenge podcast, Gareth Roberts. Gareth, thank you for coming on. We've heard the journalist's point of view. We've heard lots of pundits talking about it. But how are the fans feeling and how have they taken Mo Salah's comments?

15:52I mean I can obviously only speak for myself and the fans that I know but you know we were out watching the game and then obviously the news broke shortly after and we were all furious I'm still furious now I really don't see what the point of it is and you know he says in the interview at one point that he loves Liverpool well if you love Liverpool how's this helping Liverpool because it just seems to be the most I'll show this Liverpool are in a crisis we all know that Arna Slott is under pressure, we know that Liverpool have lost too many games, we know that and basically he spat the dummy because he's been benched three times and look, he's not used to that I think he's only been an unused sub I think maybe five times in his Liverpool career and I think the previous occasions were in the 19-20 season but it's obviously happened to him twice this season in a short space of time clearly he's not happy with that he said, well, it's me or the manager.

16:52And I find that disgraceful, frankly. Yes, he's a legend. Yes, he's scored 250 goals. He's won the Premier League twice, the European Cup and all the rest of it. He's gave us brilliant nights, brilliant days. He's a hero. His name sang every week. Think about even when he signed the contract. The club put a throne on the centre circle and dressed him up as a king. So, you know, and then this fella, to me, is claiming that he is being thrown under the bus. He's thrown the club under the bus. He's absolutely destroying his legacy, I think. I think obviously the legacy he can have at Liverpool Football Club is massive.

17:29Some of the absolute legends who've played for Liverpool, he's right up there with them. And I think it'd be sad for him to throw it all away. And I think how he's gone about not playing and being put on the bench, I think he's gone about it all wrong. Just roll your sleeves up. and as a fan, you can accept players not having a good game, but if you're not willing to run and fight and earn your place in the team which he thinks he should play anyway because he's already earned that, then fans don't accept that. And I'm sure, obviously, you know, obviously supporting Liverpool fans, and I know a lot of them, obviously, family Liverpool fans, and they won't accept them comments, no chance.

18:10Paul, do you agree? Well, both of you, Paul and Gareth, do you agree that he is destroying his legacy? I'm not sure you can destroy your legacy in the course of seven and a half minutes to a few journalists. I think what he's done has been incredible. You know, Gareth's just outlined they're all there. You know, two Premier Leagues, Champions League, third highest goal scorer in the club's history, only Roger Hunt and Ian Rush ahead of him. So it'd be difficult to do that. But, you know, you look at the way players, you know, legendary figures of the club have made their exits in recent years.

18:42and someone like, for instance, you look at the Jürgen Klopp example as the sort of shining light of how you leave on your own terms and you get your big send-off at Anfield and everyone has their day. Or you go out like Jordan Henderson and you're almost just sort of shuffled out the back door, be it in a January transfer window or a summer window and you don't really get to have the big send-off that you deserve. and I hope Mo is still around to get the big day that his efforts thoroughly deserve. But at the moment, I'm struggling to see, like I said to Kay then, what Mohamed Salah's Liverpool career looks like on the other side of AFCON.

19:21Yeah, as I say, I'm really, really struggling as to what he's doing. He seems to be making out that he's been disrespected. But let's remember that he's 33 years old and he's the highest paid Liverpool player in the history of the club and he's on£400 ,000 a week or thereabouts and there's still£32 million of that contract to be paid. And it just says to me that he either wants to put the boot in and get the manager out the door and that's the power play, if you like, or he wants to leave. I don't really see what else he would be trying to achieve. And look, there is an argument to say that by the time he comes back from AFCON, Arnestok might not be the manager because we've already lost nine games this season and there's got to be a question of well how many is acceptable before they pull the plug so maybe he's trying to speed up that process but when I'm thinking about it I just think well you know whoever the next manager might be who comes in does he want a player like that does he want a player that says I should be in the side no matter what because of what I've previously done I just find that like really disrespectful to his teammates as well because if you look at who's been playing in this position, Dominic Suboslay, he's the best player this season at Liverpool.

20:37And so what does it say to Dominic Suboslay if he's saying, well, I should be in the side ahead of you? Well, not based on your performances, you shouldn't. No one's being disrespectful here. He hasn't played well. He scored five goals this season for Liverpool and he's put in plenty of stinkers. You know, I was at Burnley away and he couldn't even cross the ball. So, you know, he has not been playing unwell and so you know the manager pulling him out the side is not a mad decision and he needs to put his big boy pants on and accept that and he hasn't done he's gone the opposite way and spat the dummy and also as paul said before you know four i think it's 420 appearances for liverpool 417 times he's walked past paul and the rest of the lads and not said a word so he knows the power of his words when he decides to do this so i'd love to know inside his brain you know he's obviously an intelligent man what does he think he's doing Arna Slott only last week was praising his professionalism after he was dropped for West Ham saying he's done everything you'd want him to do I've spoke to him he's knuckled down he keeps himself in incredible shape all of those things and you know Mo says in his interview doesn't he what why would they want it to end this way well you've you're making it end this way mate you know no one else is and so legend or not you just don't do this and you know I'm sure there are well there are because I've had a load of stick today on Twitter about it there are clearly Mo Salah super fans who will accept anything he says or does because they love him that much well sorry I love Liverpool Football Club more than Mo Salah and he's disrespected take the leash off your laptop with the processor that gives you long battery life work on the go jump between back to back calls Stay locked in from brewing morning coffee to burning the midnight oil.

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22:48Do you know what's hard? when you're a player and you get to that age and your performance is dropped a little bit and you're looking for reasons why and the last person you look to is yourself and I think that's what's happening with him his performance has been great and he's looking for anyone but himself to blame and I'm sure over the next couple of years when he actually looks back at this he'll regret saying what he's said because there's only him who can help him get out of the situation and that's just by playing better. I know that sounds simple, but that's all it is. And I think everything we're seeing now is him just trying to, rather than looking internally, he's looking at anything to try and put the blame on.

23:37Kae Kurd:One thing I was going to ask was, do you think this puts the ball in a really, really hard position? Because if you do get rid of slot and you keep Salah, what sort of message is that sending at the same time as well, that a player like that can say what he likes and does what he wants and they get rid of the manager and he can be there. Is that the sort of message you want at your football club? Yeah, it's an interesting point. I'd suggest no. I mean, player power is clearly a big thing in a modern game, but that would suggest that it has gone too far. And I thought Gareth made a great point there about Mo's professionalism.

24:14You know, be wax lyrical about how uber-professional he is, how fit he keeps himself at the age of 33, his diet, his recovery, his willingness to basically extract everything that he can from his career. And then when he does something like he did yesterday, it sort of jars with that in terms of being this great professional because it wasn't professional. It was thinking about himself first and the team second. And it was very pointed. It was very much just me or Arna Slott and almost a little volley across the court to maybe the club's ownership for them to make a decision either way. I don't necessarily think that Arna Slott will turn this around at the moment.

24:55I really like him. When we speak to him on Fridays, he comes across really cool and confident and an unbelievable season last year. He's still got Liverpool's highest win ratio of any manager. But when a team are in this sort of form, it doesn't really look like it's changing any time soon. So if Salah is looking to oust Arna, he didn't necessarily have to press the nuclear button to do that because it might even become apparent in the next four or five weeks anyway I think that's where Arnie Slott tomorrow has to show his authority and just pull him in and say listen you're not travelling with the team what you said is not acceptable take yourself off to the African Cup of Nations and let everything settle down but I think Arnie Slott can take full control of it tomorrow I think if he keeps him in the squad then I think there'll be questions.

25:49But if I was Arne Slott tomorrow, there's no way you'd have them anywhere near the team. I think I know the answer to this, Wayne, but can you imagine if this had happened under Sir Alex? Like, I just feel like Mo Salah's doing this now with Arne Slott and it's going to be interesting to see how Slott deals with it, as you said. But I'm just imagining that if someone had done that in your time, what would have happened? Yeah, well, I think there's probably a few examples, if you look back, of people challenging Alex Ferguson and they left quite quickly left the club. So yeah, I think for me, I think just from a player's point of view, you know, you were saying before, it's so disrespectful to your teammates.

26:31And I remember when I put a transfer request in at Man United and I put a statement, I didn't do an interview, I put a statement out and the team were playing in the Champions League game, I was injured. And the next day I went in and apologized to my teammates. I knew I'd messed up I knew I was wrong for what I'd done I was reacting to Alex Ferguson's press conference when he outed everything which was conversations we were having over the the the previous couple of months and then I reacted to that and I knew quickly that I'd let my teammates down so I went in the next day and apologized to all my teammates and we moved forward with it so I think as players you can make mistakes and you can get over them but you have to do it quickly otherwise Whereas the longer it lingers, then your teammates will intercept you as well as your manager.

27:20Gareth, what do you want to see happen here? How do you want Arna's slot to deal with it? What do you want to see from Mo Salah now? Well, they fly to Milan, don't they, tomorrow? And I just think on a very practical basis, how do you all look in the whites of his eyes after he's done that? I don't know how the manager does. I'd be very surprised if the players were on his side over him doing this. We don't know. We haven't heard anything. But, you know, as Wayne say, if you just think about it, I just don't see, as I said before, how it helps. So therefore, it's not going to help him being around.

27:54And I think there's every chance he wouldn't have started in Milan anyway. I mean, into the top of the league, they got to the final of the Champions League last year. They're a good side. You know, this is an important game for Liverpool. Liverpool aren't in the top eight of the Champions League standings where they want to be as things stand. so what's the point in him going? Because A, he could be a disruptive influence and B, he's not going to play anyway I wouldn't have thought so I think Arna Slat's got to come out and show leadership like Wayne was saying and just say you're out you're not playing and you could go further and I don't know if a Liverpool would do this but you've asked the question of what would Ferguson do well I think we all know what Ferguson would do because he did do it with Roy Keane and whether Liverpool are prepared to do something like that.