It feels like we’re watching two truths clash at once: Mo Salah the legend trying to deal with decline, and a new manager in Arne Slot trying to manage that reality for the good of Liverpool.
What’s stood out most to me isn’t the noise around it, but how the people inside the club have dealt with it. That tells you plenty about where we actually are.
The players and Slot handled it properly
Listening to Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones and the rest, they got the tone spot on. They were clear the situation was unfortunate, but every one of them made a point of saying how much they love Mo Salah. No shots fired, no drama added, just professionals backing a teammate while still backing the manager’s decisions.
Slot, for his part, hasn’t once criticised Mo in public. He kept his cards close to his chest, didn’t inflame anything, and basically refused to turn it into a circus. You can see why players would respect that. He’s tried to protect both the team and the player.
From the outside, that’s all you can really ask: manager managing, players fronting up, nobody throwing anyone under the bus.
Mo the legend, and Mo right now
I don’t think this outburst was about Slot personally. We’ve seen something similar before with Klopp, that time Mo reacted badly when he was sub. So for me, this was always likely to happen the first time he was properly benched for more than one game, especially with his form not being great since around March.
On the evidence we’ve actually got, it looks like this: he’s been given a big new contract, he started every game under Slot until very recently, and then, when dropped, chose to say some pretty outrageous and clearly thought-out things to the press. That’s not a heat-of-the-moment slip. That’s a choice.
Some of the greats, and Mo is definitely one of them, handle the ageing process differently. John Barnes is the perfect example for us: when he knew he didn’t have the pace for the wing anymore, he adapted and turned himself into a holding midfielder. Changed his game, changed his expectations, still influenced games.
Sadly, with Mo right now it feels a bit closer to the Cristiano Ronaldo route: the status and pride leading the reaction, rather than the team picture. That doesn’t erase anything he’s done for Liverpool, but it does let him down in this moment.
Holding two truths at once
All of these things can be true at the same time: Slot won a title in his first season, Slot isn’t doing as well this season, Mo Salah is a Liverpool legend, Mo currently isn’t the Mo of old, he needed dropping on form, and he’s behaved like a bit of a prima donna.
None of that is ideal. It’s messy, emotional and uncomfortable, especially with a player who has given us so much. But you don’t get to be bigger than the team, no matter who you are. That’s always been the Liverpool way at its best.
For me, the key now is simple: we continue to support Slot and the team. The away end in Milan showed the standard. Back the lads on the pitch, back the manager trying to navigate a tough situation, and hope that, in time, Mo finds a better way of dealing with where he is in his career. Because the badge has to come first.
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